Vanishing
by Circle142
Summary: AU - The much-requested cross-country crime spree adventure is here at last-a twisted and colorful journey through the USA, chasing answers and each other. Please check my profile link for the image to match each chapter and location. Come away with me.
1. Vanishing

_A/N - It seems I was losing some people with all the jumping around we're going to do in this story, so now we have a picture for each chapter. Please check my profile link/homepage to come take a crazy ride with me._

_Title and concept from Vanishing, by the ever-incredible A Perfect Circle, one of my favorites. Lyrics below._

_Disappear  
Disappear  
Higher  
Higher  
Into the air  
Slowly disappear  
No, no longer here_

_Vanish, vanish into the air  
Slowly disappear  
Never really here_

-------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1 - Vanishing

Seattle, Washington, 17 January, this year.

The whipping wind howled in Naomi Campbell's ears, a roar that nearly succeeding in drowning out the thundering rush of her own heartbeat, drumming painfully, almost mocking her, as she stared disbelieving at the scene unfolding in front of her. It had really come to this.

Her body tense, holding her weapon with perfect stillness trained on the body in front of her, and momentarily her training was seemingly overriding the bitter sting of blowing snow that left pinpricks stinging on her cheeks and nearly blinded her. No, maybe it was just the deep brown eyes just staring back at her that nearly made her vision go black.

Sirens flashed bright red and blue against the falling snow silhouetted against the dark night sky, turning the confrontation on the bridge into what, if just judged on color, would be an almost carnival atmosphere were it not for the wailing sirens and overwhelming shudder of helicopter blades hovering above them.

"It doesn't have to be this way!" Naomi finally shouted as the heavy sound of boots crunched in the ice and snow, a dozen heavily-armored SWAT team members taking their positions on either side of her, flanking her in formation. _Please_, her brain screamed _please please please don't do this!_

Naomi's ears heard the sharp sound of weapons being cocked as her eyes took in the sight of tiny dots of red light from scopes suddenly trained on the woman in front of her, six, no seven, dancing for a moment and then holding steady right above her heart. The woman glanced down for a quick moment, her arms still raised above her head, and then pointedly back to the desperate gaze of Naomi Campbell.

She winked then, taking an almost imperceptible half-step backwards, before in a flash she stepped up over the edge of the metal railing and fell back, her red hair swirling, almost fluttering in the wind, as she disappeared over the edge and vanished into the icy water swirling below.

"Emily!" was all that her torn from her lips, her voice crying out before her body could react. Then she ran, and everyone else on the bridge reacted in unison and crowded around her, pressing her almost painfully up against the barrier by large bodies and stiff black Kevlar. She had never felt more alone in her life.

Peering over the edge of the suspension bridge, spotlights from above now trained on the churning water a hundred feet down from the collected vehicles and panicked people, her service weapon forgotten as she searched the darkness below for any flash of red, any sign of a body. Nothing.

_None of the pieces of the puzzle had come together, until it was too late. _

At that moment, for the first time in her once perfectly-ordered life, Naomi Campbell shattered completely inside and had to grip the railing tightly to keep from falling to her knees. She stared into the churning foam of the sound beneath her, but as always, the waters of the Tacoma Narrows revealed no secrets. Emily Fitch was gone.

-------------------------------------------------


	2. Sleeping Beauty

_A/N - Chapter title from Sleeping Beauty by APC.. think I'm gonna make it a theme. Lyrics below._

_Sleeping Beauty_  
_Poisoned and hopeless_  
_You're far beyond a visible sign of your awakening_  
_Failing miserably to find a way to comfort you_

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2 - Sleeping Beauty

California desert town, 15 January, this year. Early morning.

Naomi Campbell thought she could never feel worse than she did at this moment, her head aching and her closed eyes protesting at even the hint of morning light. But too soon, she knew now, _she ruined herself with the thought_, things could always keep getting worse. It was only three short days before the bridge and another lifetime completely that Emily Fitch had been naked in her bed. Well, not _her_ bed. The crappy hotel room looked even worse in the morning light as Naomi awoke with a groan. _Oh her head._ Oh her body, too, once she grasped for feeling in her limbs and found herself naked. Naked in ratty hotel sheets and seemingly alone.

She hesitantly cracked open a painfully dry eye and rubbed her long fingers through her long blonde hair as she shifted against the pillows and mercifully did not break or vomit at the movement, as she tried to remember how she had gotten back here in the end. Sunlight streamed in through threadbare curtains and she could see the dusty wing mirror of her old red pickup truck parked haphazardly through the window. Her neck ached from sleeping awkwardly but she opened both eyes and took a long look at the watermarked ceiling as she pinched her nose to stop it from spinning. _I'm fine, I'm okay._ The sudden sound of hissing shower pipes through the wall on the other side of the room finally pulled her out of her fuzzy head.

_Oh my god, that had really happened._

_That shouldn't have happened._

Naomi sat up straight, ignoring her pain, as a moment later the bathroom door opened and the dreaded figure of a small, toned redheaded woman invaded her space, a dingy green towel hanging off of her but still clearly soaking wet. Large beads of water dripped off of her dark red hair and created ringlets splayed across her pale shoulders, her face twisted in a smirk at the open-mouthed look of utter horror the blonde was giving her nearly-naked body. Naomi finally met her eyes and they spent a long, tense moment looking at each other, amusement dancing in brown eyes and terror piercing blue.

"You're a fucking mess, _Jamie_," Emily finally broke the tension, by laughing, of all things, at the blonde woman's face. Naomi was far too startled to catch the hint of menace in the redhead's tone and could only close her mouth and groan in response, "I know I am."

At that Emily smirked again, walked over to the edge of the bed and dropped the towel, causing Naomi's mouth to open again involuntarily as she watched the naked figure of Emily Fitch as she crawled achingly slowly into the bed, her wet hair leaving drips all over Naomi's bare skin. The blonde could only groan and bite her lip at the mix of fear, panic, and desire that suddenly surged through her as the redhead slid up her body. Emily towered over her, inches away from Naomi's face and pressed her back into the pillows as the redhead licked her lips in a way that was some how both erotic and completely obscene. Naomi remained speechless as Emily reached a hand between them, dipped a delicate finger into Naomi's wetness and then tasted it, swirling her tongue around her own small finger. Her gaze never left Naomi's, looked right through her as though she was looking for something, until she raised an eyebrow and suddenly she was gone, moving quickly away and picking up the towel once again. She wrapped it around her hair and looked back over her shoulder at Naomi, who was currently managing to keep her lips pressed tightly together at the sight of Emily's naked back. Her mouth fell open again, however, when she heard the redhead's words.

"It seems _you_ shouldn't have done that, at least," Emily said, her tone neutral and her brown eyes unreadable before she tilted her head slightly and let a smirk dance on her lips. She continued her retreat to the other side of the room, drying her hair with the towel and paying no attention to the completely alarmed blonde left in the bed.

_Does she know? _Naomi's thoughts were racing. _She can't know, she can't possibly know, it would ruin everything, it would get people killed._

A thousand deadly possibilities flashed through her fuzzy brain as she watched Emily pull on a black top and pants, but finally found her voice and tried to quell her rising panic, "We're consenting adults, it didn't mean anything.. it wasn't.."

"You know that's not what I'm talking about, _Naomi._" Emily looked pack at her with a piercing stare for a long moment, before turning away and shielding her eyes with a pair of large black aviator sunglasses as she picked up her backpack and walked out the door.

The blonde heard the distinct gun of Emily's motorcycle start and then the hum of the motor fade as she remained sitting in the bed, her panic rising to uncharted levels now.

_She knows, oh god, she knows.. it shouldn't have happened. Shit. SHIT._

Naomi rolled over, found her body again, and staggered across the floor to where she had hidden her secret. Ripping out the drawer and undoing the hidden panel at the bottom with a sense of dread overwhelming her, the blonde's heart practically exploded as she inventoried the content. Her gun and cell phone were still there, but her badge was not. _SHIT._ Her insides dropped and she only barely kept her nauseous stomach from emptying on the ratty carpet. Naomi could only sit there all alone save for her inner demons and the mess she had made of her life.

--------------------------------------------------------

California desert town, 15 January, this year. Late afternoon.

Later, Naomi had somehow pieced herself back together enough that she had the courage to toss on jeans and tank top and stepped out into the afternoon sunlight of the dusty motel parking lot, her gun holstered securely around her ankle above her worn brown work boots. She slid into the driver's seat of her truck and started it up with some sense of determination, but found that it quickly faded the closer she got to her destination. She drove the beat up pickup through the crowded California desert town, making sure she wasn't followed but not sure of much of anything else anymore, the diner where she was meeting her handler looming in the distance seeming like an eternity away. She arrived there far too quickly anyway.

She had called him after her shower, practically scrubbing the skin off of her body in scalding water as she tried to think of what to do, of how to keep it all from going wrong. The answer, of course, was Freddie McLair, perhaps the most orderly person in her universe. He would see through the chaos.

He looked up at Naomi from his coffee and waffles as she slid into the booth across from him, running his long brown fingers over his meticulously groomed beard and raised his eyebrows in question as she collapsed, putting her forehead on the formica tabletop and sighing. He knew something was wrong when he saw that she hadn't even scanned the room on instinct, simply appearing in front of him and turning into a cascade of blonde hair as she hid her face. "Coffee?" he offered. He knew he wasn't going to like what happened next, but didn't show it.

"I fucked up," Naomi finally whispered.

"How?" Freddie's voice was calm, even.

"I don't know."

"This isn't like you."

"I know," she sighed, finally picking herself up off the table and looking him in the eye, "I know."

"You're in too deep with this," Freddie told her what she already knew, but she needed to hear it anyway, "you have to fix it."

"I don't know if i can.." Naomi started to waver, before reaching across the table and stealing his cup of coffee. She took a long swallow, then clutched the cup tightly.

Freddie stared back at her for a long moment, she needed convincing, needed help, and apparently needed coffee. "You're the best we've got..and this could all blow up in a big way if you dont figure it out. You're clever."

"I'm a disaster," she admitted, swirling the hot liquid in her cup, and looked back at him through one eye, her face twisted in a grimace of self-loathing. Freddie picked up a bite of waffle with his fork, and placed it in his mouth. _Naomi Campbell you beautiful creature, what have you done?_ "Is this about a girl then?" Naomi was silent, stared back down into her coffee.

Freddie looked at her for a long moment, putting his fork down with a clank on his plate. "Please don't tell me it was Emily." She didn't meet his eyes.

This rattled him slightly, he tried not to show it. "No, no you know how dangerous she is!"

"In more ways than one, it seems," Naomi looked at him at last, drummed her fingers on the table, the other still clinging to the small white ceramic cup, "she knows who I really am. Took my badge." _She didn't know how she could have been so stupid to bring Emily back there, to her room, to her bed._

"Ok, fuck." Freddie leaned back in the booth, breathing deeply for a moment and rubbing his hands over his beard, until he sat forward again, his fingers pressed together in front of him thoughtfully. "Maybe it's possible she wouldn't give you up to the others?"

"Possible, but I don't know her at all," Naomi admitted. True, after what seemed like thousands of hours of studying FBI case files and psychological profiles the blonde thought, once, that she knew Emily Fitch, that she knew _all_ of them and that with her meticulous preparation and instinct and mimicry the resulting operation would go smoothly. _It didn't. It wasn't._

"I don't want to put you in danger but we don't have a choice," Freddie finally admitted, "too much has gone into this. We'll figure it out. I'll be here, but right now I need to work."

And with that, he slipped away, leaving Naomi Campbell, the recently uncovered, staring into her coffee with an overwhelming sense of dread.


	3. The Nurse Who Loved Me

_Chapter title - The Nurse Who Loved Me by APC (it's just a given from now on)_

_I'm taking her home with me all dressed in white _  
_She's got everything I need pharmacy keys _  
_She's falling hard for me I can see it in her eyes _  
_She acts just like a nurse with all the other guys _

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3 - The Nurse Who Loved Me

Washington, DC, 23 April, this year.

"I like you, Katie."

"I like you, too, Naomi."

They stared at each other for a long moment, stupid grins on both their faces, before Katie turned away and giggled, a tiny rock twirling in her small fingers.

Some months after the chaos, Naomi Campbell found herself sitting on the bank of the Potomac River with Katie Fitch, the Arlington Memorial Bridge spanning the space between the Lincoln Memorial and the national cemetery, the concrete and steel and runners and cars and honking traffic hovering above them but a world away all the same. The rows upon rows of identical white gravestones, _the bodies of the brave and the fallen_, were at their backs, and she didn't think about them just now as she absorbed herself in Katie's laughter as they both tossed pebbles into the slowly flowing blue water. It was the only thing that mattered anymore.

Katie and Naomi had both found a strange solace in each other since they had come together again in complete random happenstance, Emily's violent death had given Naomi her first real friend even if it had taken everything, absolutely everything else away from her. A death that could only be presumed, because there was absolutely no trace of the fiery redhead left behind anywhere, _as usual_, search parties and helicopters and desperation uncovering nothing in the end. It felt confirmed all the same. The bridge in Seattle had been the worst moment of Naomi's life, and she wasn't even certain how she was intact and sitting here by the river just now, the resulting personal and professional fallout had often made her seriously consider following Emily's lead and jumping off that same railing.

Katie Fitch, always knowing just what to say, pulled her once again from darkness right then, looking away from the river and looking over to Naomi. "You saved my life once, I won't ever forget."

Naomi turned back to her and smiled, reaching her eyes, reaching her once-battered soul, and answered, naturally, "You saved my life too.. over and over again." Anyone else would have been shocked to hear the blonde say something so candid, so introspective. She had spent her whole life skimming the surface before Emily, the storm, and Katie, the calm eye, had turned her world upside-down in a literal Fitch twin hurricane.

It was unexpected how they met again, but it was also perfect. Exactly what they both needed and the universe knew it somehow, even if neither of them did at the time. Naomi looked deeply into the identical brown eyes that ruled her world from start to finish and thought about friendship. _How it can change everything._

Katie was a nurse of all things, in a hospital in Georgetown, the ER to be exact, _calm in chaos_. It fit so neatly together, it made the blonde laugh at the thought. Katie Fucking Fitch, the tiny and incredible little person that put Naomi's world back in order when she needed it most. Naomi turned back and watched a crew team, no, two, from the university as they floated past. The water sparkled in the afternoon sunlight as their paddles dipped in and out of the blue in absolute synchronicity and the blonde smiled at the sight.

In the first month after everything had been ruined on the bridge, Naomi spent her time wavering between absolute emotional panic and tense professional control, trying to salvage a scrap of a career at least, even if she was completely ruined on the inside. Even Freddie, ordered and loving as he was, hadn't been able to keep her completely out of the flames, the heat from the leadership of the FBI had been so intense, and certainly he didn't feel it was his place to interfere with Naomi's personal life. Most of which she spent alone in her apartment in DC, sobbing openly or blindingly drunk. Sometimes both.

Strong hands had pulled her out of it, pulled Naomi back from the brink of disaster, in that small but elusively powerful way that just seemed to fit with being a Fitch. Hidden strength, in every sense of the word, physical, mental, emotional; inner drive and fire.

"I don't think she ever could have killed you," Naomi said at last, willing to talk about Emily, even if the lingering silences between the blonde and the elder twin were the most comfortable she had been in her life. Their instinct for each others feelings was completely uncanny. And now, Naomi knew Katie needed to talk about Emily, her lost sister.

Katie turned to face her, tucking a long chestnut strand of hair behind her ear and looked up, pondering for a moment, before meeting Naomi's eyes, "I wonder.. then I realize I never really knew her at all." Naomi didn't say anything in response, just nodded for her to continue, and reached into her backpack for an apple, two, and picked that infuriating little sticker off of the red one before handing it over to Katie, who smiled and took her offering. The blonde rubbed the green one on her gray sweatshirt and smiled right back.

"Our family, when our family was killed," Katie continued after a long moment, "she was there. That's the only thing I can think that was ever really different about us. Why she did the things she did."

Naomi frowned and bit into her apple, the juice mercifully not running down her chin this time, and chewed thoughtfully. She knew all of this already, but she had never heard Katie tell it.

The brunette ignored her own apple for a moment and went on, "Sometimes I feel lucky to have been spared the actual physical scene, but I don't think Emily ever felt lucky to even be alive. She always lived like she was on borrowed time after that night."

The sweet fruit in Naomi's mouth turned suddenly sour at the image of the teenage Emily, only twelve or thirteen at the time, hiding with wide eyes under a desk as blood splattered around her and, Naomi imagined, her mind broke. _She wasn't ever the same after that._

Naomi tossed aside her apple thought about Katie then, about the violence that she had seen even if she hadn't been present for the brutal murder that had so damaged Emily. In her work, she saw it often, even saw the violence Naomi had done to herself, but seemingly loved her anyway. _How can someone see me so wrecked,_ she thought, _and see something worth saving at all?_ It seemed almost impossible. The blonde had staggered, no, could barely stand as she stumbled out of the club one month to the date after Emily vanished. Her insides were a mix of alcohol and.. whatever she had taken, she couldn't remember now, and she had been mugged in an alleyway as she slumped against the wall. In her state, despite her training, she knew she hadn't even made an effort to fight back. When she awoke in the hospital bed the next day, she had a bandage across her forehead but her heart was in her throat as she saw those same chocolate eyes, the ones that had been haunting her, staring back at her in the form of Katie Fitch. "Welcome to the world again," was the first thing Katie had said to her, a nurse who not only bandaged her physical wounds but meticulously went about rebuilding Naomi's life from the very foundation up.

Emily's twin and her.. lover, pursuer, betrayer, and sometimes friend sat side by side on the riverbank and knew they both thought of the redhead again, the mysterious, the disappeared. Naomi could only agree with Katie's words. _Nobody ever really knew Emily Fitch, and now, it seemed, they never would._

The blonde grasped Katie's hand and they both stared out into the glowing water, the light changing the reflection to pink with the approaching sunset, and the crew teams far away in the distance now but still in perfect rhythm.

"I'm here for you to," Naomi finally said, clutching Katie's fingers tighter, "nobody is in this alone."


	4. Weak and Powerless

_A/N - This one is for HyperFitched, the high-flying, the incredible, because it seems you've taken a liking to this sexy Emily and you have inspired me to write from her POV for the very first time (hopes I don't screw it up) so motorcycles and angst and hot redheads just for you. Your story is shaping up to be the most amazing thing ever - love to your laptop. _

_Chapter title - Weak And Powerless - APC_

_Tilling my own grave to keep me level_  
_Jam another dragon down the hole_  
_Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren_  
_One that pushes me along and leaves me so_

_Desperate and Ravenous_  
_I'm so weak and powerless over you_

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4 - Weak And Powerless

California coastal road, 15 January, this year. Noon.

Emily Fitch screamed up the California coastal road on her motorcycle, feeling the pulsating between her thighs and she pushed the throttle ever higher as she left one very confused and naked Naomi Campbell behind, back in the desert, back in the hotel room bed. Her dark red hair whipped furiously in the wind as it peeked out in odd places under her large black helmet, the opaque visor tinting her vision and hiding her furious eyes. She pressed her body low in her seat and she left a trail of dust behind her, passing a slowly-moving work truck by sliding illegally around it on the rocky shoulder, moving so quickly past and then back onto the asphalt that the other vehicle seemed like it was standing completely still. She pressed on, not worrying that her wheels ever left the pavement, her jet black Multistrada 1200 S bike allowing her endless transformations from sport bike, long-distance tourer, urban and road enduro with just one click of her delicate fingers. It was her dream Ducati, and the only thing keeping her sane at the moment as she reached unsafe speeds, mountains on one side of her body and a deep cliff drop into the Pacific Ocean on the other. She needed to feel something, feel alive for once.

The further Emily had gotten from the dusty motel, driving due west, the more she disliked the blonde, her thoughts turning at last to absolute hatred for the other woman as she passed Los Angeles and finally hit the Pacific Coast Highway and the vast expanse of blue ocean and turned due north, racing towards San Francisco along the steep cliff face that loomed just inches away from the paved road. She let herself think about her body instead, try to gain some handle over her racing thoughts and out of control emotions. _Six paces up, two over, pivot, lift one leg, duck my head under,_ Emily mouthed to herself, reciting the practiced routine of body movements that was going to allow her to dance through the laser sights, obscure the path she had taken, grab the prize and vanish into thin air like she had always done before. She knew she was quick, she was small, she was practically born for this she was so good at it.

Emily saw the Bixby Creek Bridge rising quickly in the distance, and crouched tighter down on her bike as the reinforced concrete of the open-spandrel arch bridge let her know she was nearing Big Sur, and that San Francisco and help for her crisis was only another three hours away. Maybe only two at the speeds she was currently maintaining, the wind screaming in her ears and her rage growing as the miles multiplied under the burning rubber of her motorcycle tires. She could fit in any tight space, could bend herself around any corner, could get in absolutely anywhere undetected, she was the perfect thief. _So why had it all gone so wrong?_ She tried to convince herself that it was all fine, that the plan would move ahead, and that she was still Emily - but even her own brain wouldn't let her believe that last lie.

Everything had changed. Everything had gone off the rails _and there was not one thing she could do about it_, she finally knew when she reached the bridge and took a glance down to the ocean waves crashing against the cliff face, the deep blue water turning white with the violence and the impact, and anger burned through her.

That _fucking_ girl. That fucking blonde girl.

Naomi Campbell had sauntered in to her world and hand changed everything, complicated it, _ruined it._ And it had all been lies from the first moment Emily laid eyes on her. She had even lied about her name.

Weeks ago, it was only weeks ago in some crowded and rowdy biker bar outside Chicago that Emily had sat back in a noisy booth in a back room, neon lights glowing in the window and glasses and chatter in the air, as she watched Naomi Campbell for the first time across the table, so smooth and going through the motions. _Jamie Harris_, she had introduced herself, the meeting only being agreed upon because Jamie Harris, at least, had one hell of a reputation as a dangerous criminal, a master code breaker and lock pick that could violate any space. It had been so wonderfully crafted, impeccably designed and backed up with evidence and so flawlessly acted by the blonde that even Emily had disregarded her instincts and let herself believe it for a time, because they needed her. They needed Jamie's skills if they were ever going to hope to pull off the ultimate score. Emily wondered, riding north at alarming speeds, if had fooled the others because they were blinded by the prize. Emily knew her current angry state was mostly due to the fact she knew in the end that Jamie Harris hadn't ever really fooled her, and now she knew why. Screaming up the California coastline, the redhead was filled with hate. It consumed her. _I've got her fucking FBI badge in my backpack. I can prove it was all lies. _

James Cook and Effy Stonem and Emily _Fucking_ Fitch - the now doomed band of thieves.

Jamie Harris had just played the perfect part those weeks ago in the biker bar, had greeted Cook and laughed at his funny accent and flirted and expressed delight at the fact that he was from England, from Bristol, and winked her big blue eyes at him and told him that she had always wanted to go there. And Emily now wanted to do great violence to Cook as well, thinking with his dick and not with his head that fateful night - getting them into trouble this time instead of saving them all like he was supposed to. But Effy, Emily thought, fucking Effy should have seen this coming, her incessant watching and wide eyes and silence never otherwise missing a beat. Emily hated Effy even more than Cook now that she knew Naomi's lies, because Cook couldn't help himself. Effy, however, should have known better.

And then, that moment, that moment in the biker bar that Emily couldn't believe she had let happen made her angry with herself most of all. Emily Fitch, pocket-sized master acrobat, untouchable, untraceable, she knew who she was the rest of the time, had everything all worked out. Emily had perfect control over her body, her movements, her emotions and motivations, and then _she_ happened. The blonde had looked into Emily's eyes for a brief moment across the bar table and Jamie Harris had said with her silent blue stare, _I know who you really are._

Emily had sat there with the three of them in the bar, bored with Cook's chatter and playing with the paper label of a mostly-full bottle of beer when suddenly she could feel blue eyes on her, and for one tiny moment of weakness she allowed herself, indulged herself a glance back. Then everything had started to unravel on the inside, at least. _I know who you really are._ Naomi had seen, had fucking seen right through her. Through all her lies, through all her bravado and had just, looked at her. Looked right through her past her eyes and into her very twisted soul, and Emily couldn't be more angry, now that she knew who Naomi really was, was so furious that she couldn't tell if she hated the blonde liar or hated herself more. Meeting Naomi's gaze for a brief moment, she knew even at that moment it would end up in shatters after that, the redhead had pulled her eyes away and pretended like it never happened, but it was far too late. All of it was set in motion right that second.

As the strong noon sunlight began to intensify, the ocean glinted sparkling gold back in Emily's eyes from below the cliffs as she rode on, once again reaching unsafe speeds on the hot pavement, and she didn't care, just continued flying faster. She moved forward in a whirl of red and black toward San Francisco, _because there was nowhere else to go._


	5. Blue

_A/N- This one is for 6seatertable, for your lovely reviews and slightly less-than-sober love from Easter dinner and perfect summary of the last crazy gang that made me laugh. My fellow American!_

_Blue - APC_

_I didn't want to know _  
_I just didn't want to know _  
_Best to keep things in the shallow end _  
_Cause I never quite learned how to swim _

_Call an optimist, she's turning blue _  
_Such a lovely color for you _  
_Call an optimist, she's turning blue _  
_While I just sit and stare at you _

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5 - Blue

Washington DC, 31 December, previous year. Morning.

Naomi Campbell's life before the Fitch twins, before the Seattle bridge, was so perfectly ordered there was practically nothing in it. At this time she didn't face the daunting possibility of a future without Emily Fitch, the horrifying idea of a world without her in it; she didn't even know why, right now, that was even important. Running across the Arlington Memorial Bridge in the early morning sunlight, she concentrated her perfect stride on the sight in front of her, the pristine white columns and sharp corners of the Lincoln Memorial moving ever closer at a steady pace. It was her routine, it was comforting. The chilly morning air raced past her and the trees along the bank of the river were almost bare with the impending winter, but at least for the moment she was mercifully alone with her thoughts and didn't mind the cold.

Naomi always knew she would be an FBI Special Agent, even if her childhood home in the rolling hills of Northeast Virginia was more organic farming and unwashed vagrants than law and order. It fit her perfectly, such a change from the crowded chaos of her young life, and she knew she had practically come home when she trailed along behind her schoolmates on a class field trip to Washington, DC, at the age of eight and took in the huge gray FBI Headquarters building on Pennsylvania Avenue for the very first time. She was always a loner, but that didn't mean she didn't care about other people, no, she still had a driving need to want to change the world for the better - just not the way her colorful mother chose to go about it. They hardly spoke anymore, Naomi thought, allowing herself to feel a quick pain of regret as her feet reached the stairs leading up to the large white memorial at last, but the blonde dismissed the matter entirely just then, she was just too busy and very rarely in one place for too long.

The very heart of investigations and operations, and Naomi Campbell's entire world, was to serve, as the FBI mission states, "to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats and to enforce the criminal laws of the United States." And she was the absolute best at what she did, her passion for the work and training was extensive, and when the bureau had discovered her uncanny talent as a mimic her career in undercover work flourished. _Since she didn't really feel she could channel nearly anyone_, she supposed. But she didn't mind being other people, at least, not until this latest time. Some hidden part of her could sense trouble coming even now. Naomi paused and stretched her long legs on the staircase rubbing her palms over her running tights, feeling the burn in her thighs, feeling the tightness in her calves. She thought about the mission and the people she was about to take on.

This criminal gang had executed what was already a dangerous, calculated series of thefts, and while the agency had an idea of who was behind it, it was all so flawlessly conceived and executed they couldn't pin anything on anyone. That is, even if they could catch up with them at all. Emily Fitch, James Cook, and Effy Stonem were always a threat, to be sure, but now the stakes were raised to uncharted levels due to what it was presumed they were going after next. Emily Fitch's file, when Naomi had read it for the first time, credited her skills as master thief to her small size and quickness, _never once caught_, and she had the uncanny ability to seemingly vanish into thin air. James Cook, the ex-British Armed Forces soldier, the now mercenary, was clearly _all rage and mouth and muscle_. And Effy Stonem, the mysterious, the brains of the operation - _all knowing all seeing_, some analyst had cheekily noted in her file - seemed to be always watching everything, and perhaps she just liked pretty things. Naomi promised herself she would draw her own conclusions when they met at last the next day. She was flying to Chicago in the morning.

Naomi knew she was in for a special job this time, not that the others weren't, but right now there was almost no greater threat to the security of the United States than Emily Fitch, and she had to go down, and fast. Without a single piece of evidence to even reasonably charge her with a crime, Naomi Campbell knew she would have to fix this problem herself, _as usual_. She didn't allow herself to be wound up by _what_ the surveillance chatter from the wires had reported the gang were after this time that set the usually calm and ordered world of FBI Headquarters in a tizzy. Naomi solved problems and hence, this latest resulting operation, when intel told them the three criminals were looking for a fourth - for a special set of skills - it was of course one Naomi just happened to have. Nimble fingers that could pick through any lock, a brain that could crack any code, and the extreme acting ability to pull it all off.

The FBI, somehow, through their underworld of contacts had arranged a meeting with the gang, and had created her an entirely new identity and dangerous reputation. The pieces and back story that went into making Jamie Harris a convincing criminal had been helpfully provided to her. It wasn't Naomi's job to worry about those details, Freddie meticulously arranged it all and it was perfect as usual. Naomi simply had to show up and slip into another self. It was easy. _Too easy._

--------------------------------------------------------

Chicago, IL, 1 January, this year. Late evening.

In the biker bar in Chicago, Jamie Harris ran her fingers through her long blonde hair and tugged on the collar of her leather jacket, as the merry band of thieves all took each other in for the first time. Jamie had a flawless set up and Naomi played her part to the letter, Freddie had come through for her in the end and she could feel a surge of satisfaction as she told them about fictional crimes in Florida, in Tennessee and Texas and across the table from her, Cook was obviously impressed and even Effy raised an eyebrow in her general direction. Thankfully Jamie was supposed to look smug.

"Fine, Blondie, find us tomorrow - we might be able to do business 'witcha," Cook continued to flirt, and now the business part was finished. Jamie leaned casually back into the booth and Naomi's thoughts involuntarily turned to Emily Fitch. She had been paying so much attention to playing her part she hadn't even noticed the redhead other than taking her in out of the corner of her eyes. Naomi knew who Emily was, or so she thought. Beautiful, certainly, dark red hair pulled back on the top of her head even as it cascaded back down her bare shoulders, long grey tank top reveling just the hint of black bra strap, killer arms, perfect face and a completely twisted mind.

The first time Naomi fucked up, she now knew, _the biggest time_, was when she allowed herself a glance at Emily, had met her eyes, and flinched slightly under the intensity, but kept looking in spite of herself. When Emily had met her gaze at last, sparks had gone off in Naomi's brain. _I see right through you_, deep brown eyes had said to her silently, before she quickly broke away, or Emily did, she couldn't quite remember. That was the moment everything changed, and Naomi knew now, that she was doomed right from that very instant. Some deep part of her even knew it right then, sitting in the biker bar.

Although she could feel blue eyes on her, _it must have been Effy,_ Naomi's thoughts were at that second racing only for Emily Fitch. _Shit_, had she noticed something? _Shit, SHIT._ Jamie tried to keep her expression neutral, had taken a long swig from her beer bottle and turned back to continue exchanging flirty pleasantries with Cook, but Naomi's mind was full of red. _It never really stopped being all about Emily after that._


	6. 3 Libras

_A/N- This one is for niceoneBlondie (yea! more California girls!) because dude, DUDE, Ink is totally sexy and awesome and I can't wait for more. _

_3 Libras - APC_

_Here I am expecting just a little bit_

_Too much from the wounded_

_But I see,_

_See through it all,_

_See through,_

_And see you._

_Cause I threw you the obvious_

_to see what occurs behind the_

_Eyes of a fallen angel_

_Eyes of a tragedy_

_oh well, oh well..._

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6 - 3 Libras

Washington, DC/Arlington, VA, 25 April, this year. Morning.

Three Libras and only two left standing. A star sign they all had in common, Katie Fitch had recently discovered, when she found out that her own and Emily's matching birthday was only one day later than Naomi Campbell's - the blonde was almost one year older than the twins, to the day. And now their connection really made sense, even though Katie was smart enough not to actually believe any of that mumbo-jumbo bullshit, it didn't stop her from reading about it, trying to explain the balance, sparks, and utter impossibility of the way three Libras coming together had created both complete peace and utter chaos.

Katie liked the femininity associated with her star sign, especially because it came with added grit, too "she thinks like a man, she reasons like a woman" she remembered reading somewhere. Although Naomi had given her a long lecture on the ridiculous gender binary and un-feminist sex differentiations such analysis presumed when they had discussed it over dinner once, the brunette didn't think that made it any less true. The three of them were all about scales and balance and extremes - due to being Venus-ruled - Katie supposed, at least she knew _she_ had an idealistic view of love and togetherness. She knew Naomi had never had a real relationship of any sort, and Katie had several nice ones but wouldn't admit it to the blonde - not wanting another lecture on the unsatisfactory nature of dealing with other people when it wasn't just perfect. _Says the girl still so hopelessly in love with my dead sister that she practically ruined herself. _

Katie and Naomi ran in perfect rhythm over the Arlington bridge, this time choosing the path from the Lincoln Memorial to their favorite statue on the other side of the river. Though uncomfortably close to the national cemetery and the rows upon rows of identical alabaster gravestones, the road they were on ended up with an excellent running trail circling widely around the Iwo Jima memorial. The huge bronze statue and American flag they were eternally hoisting never failed to bring a wave of emotion over Katie's flushed face as they stopped, as they always did, and caught their breath by leaning against the dark gray marble base. They each reached for a bottle of water and Katie thought about friendship, a special kind._ The friend who was a Libra, too.._

It was all back to scales, and balance, and loyalty and trust. Katie knew, just knew she was a great counselor, _her pet project of rebuilding one Naomi Campbell was proof enough of that,_ maybe because of the symbol of their Zodiac sign - the Scales of Justice. Naomi and Katie were all about harmony and aesthetics, the later proving of utmost importance as they found themselves most often sharing a cup of tea in Katie's sunlit kitchen, the light and the atmosphere creating a special kind of peace where the realities of life often did not.

_Two Libras together bring their magically balanced and beautiful touch to everything they do together. _Katie hadn't come up with that line, but she might as well have she thought about it so often. It was the complete truth, at least with Naomi.

Leaning against the base of the statue, the sharp white silhouettes of the Washington Monument and National Capital Building behind them in the distance across the river, Katie let herself enjoy the fact that they ran together over that same bridge almost every day now that it was warm and it was spring and the cherry blossoms had exploded and filled the air with their intoxicating scent. It was peaceful then, pressing her shoulders against the cool stone next to the panting blonde, and life seemed for a moment full of beauty, sensuality and some kind of unreal pleasure. She knew Naomi felt it too.

Katie let herself linger on the blonde's stark while apartment, on her stark white and once-ordered life, even if Katie knew it was strange in the end for her to know someone so intimately that was in fact a sometimes-killer, a mimic, and a thief in her own right. The brunette was self-aware enough to know that it said a lot about her own sensitive nature, considering, as she often did, who her father was and what had happened to her family. And maybe most of all, the fact that her own violent sister had been a mystery to her in the end.

She was torn from her thoughts as Naomi suddenly missed her mouth and splashed water all down her faded blue t-shirt instead. "You're a clod," Katie said, looking over at her startled expression and laughing.

"I can kill you five ways with this water bottle," the blonde countered quickly, glaring back at her and wiping the moisture off her chin, even if it remained clinging to her shirt.

"Fuck you, you're such a disaster," Katie was still giggling, "and enough with the death threats! I've had enough of those for one lifetime."

Naomi's face fell, and Katie could see guilt creeping into blue eyes. "You know I still love you," the brunette said, in reassurance, "but you are actually a mess."

The blonde's smile brightened instantly as she looked back at Katie, "I know, _I know_. And love you too."

This was the two of them, propped up against their statue on a late-April morning, in a deliberate and mutual process of physical, emotional, and mental rebuilding - Naomi and Katie together coming out of the shadow of both of their pasts, both of their traumatic experiences. Katie thought about her career, not so strange considering her family, nursing the broken was her way of giving to the world what Emily had always seemed to take away. _Like she was owed something and just grabbed it by whatever means possible._ It wasn't as though Katie needed the money - god knows she didn't - the bulk of her parents' estate and holdings going entirely to the brunette because nobody could ever find her redheaded twin to give her a share. Katie took another long swig of cool water and thought for a moment about Emily. _What is it to miss someone if you never really knew them?_

The Libra element was air, one Emily seemed to have in spades, and the quality was a Cardinal Sign, whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean. Katie didn't think it was just about Emily's hair, various shades of bright red and pink and then dark maroon a startling contrast to Katie's dark locks the few times she had seen her twin since they were fifteen. _Two Libras can work very well together toward any project they set their mind to, _but their relationship was an utter failure because Emily's spirit was never in it with her after all that.. mess. She just left me, Katie thought_, I should hate her but I can't._

At that moment Katie missed her twin, her sister, just missed Emily, missed who they used to be when they were little girls playing in the warm water of the South Carolina coastline, where they had spent their childhood, the pristine white beaches of Hilton Head Island speckled with long tan sea grass, and their matching green bathing suits a happy contrast to the bright white and blue sea foam. Once they had been only two little girls splashing in the water, giggling at each other and themselves, and the world seemed open with possibilities.

Katie leaned back against the stone and closed her eyes, when she felt Naomi grasp her hand in understanding. She smiled softly let herself think about Emily for a while, think about a part of herself that was missing and yet perhaps never had existed at all.


	7. Thinking Of You

_A/N- This one is for AssassinsLover, for your unbridled enthusiasm in all things Internet. You're totally gonna get to London, girl. "You cow."_

_Thinking of You - APC_

_Tugging a rhythm to the vision that's in my head_

_Tugging a beat to the sight of you lying_

_So delighted with a new understanding_

_Something about a little evil that makes that_

_Unmistakable noise I was hearing_

_Thinking of you, thinking_

_Thinking of you, Thinking of you, Thinking of you, thinking..._

--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7 - Thinking Of You

San Francisco, CA, 15 January, this year. Afternoon.

Emily Fitch let herself feel some bizarre sense of relief when her motorcycle tires finally hit the start of the Golden Gate Bridge, her eyes taking in the bright orange struts of the towers and tension wires and passageways, her heart finally accepting the happy notion that she was close to some semblance of a home for the first time in weeks. This vibrant city wasn't where she was originally from but it was where she had found where she belonged at last; she had initially found her own kind of beautifully flawed people here, and had really discovered herself for the first time. She instinctively turned to this space again, right now, in her time of desperate need and internal panic. Naomi Campbell had taken everything else from her in an instant, _her secrecy, her identity, her plan_, but even the blonde couldn't take this space. Even Naomi and her FBI cohorts couldn't possibly know about the strange little tribe that Emily knew was waiting for her no matter what had happened before or since she last saw them.

The first time she had been in San Francisco, the first time she had seen the Pacific Ocean and all the bridges and color and chaos that surrounded that great blue expanse, she had just been a scared little shit runaway like all the rest. The difference was - she thought now, and why she wasn't dead or drug addicted in the gutter like so many others in her situation most likely would be - that she grabbed all those freak opportunities to better herself when she saw them, and she thrived. She was merciless in all things, but she convinced herself it was only because she didn't have a choice. The first time she stole something, the first time she saw profit from nothing and took what she thought she was owed anyway, she was hungry. And soaking wet.

The delightful Panda.. Pandora Moon.. and her noble Thomas could be a new kind of salvation to Emily Fitch right now, she decided, _she was convinced_. They would know what to do and the redhead ducked low on her bike, mindful of the traffic, as she headed to Panda's shop in the Castro district.

Running away from it all at a young age was always going to happen, she decided long after, and it only took JJ, her foster brother, to push her over the edge. He couldn't help himself she knew now - _hell,_ she even knew it then - but when he had invaded her space, put his hands on her all babbling and locked on, she had bolted at last. Emily knew she had really abandoned Katie for the final and absolute time that night that she had left her twin and therefore an essential part of herself behind. Neither of them would ever be the same after that. Emily hated herself for it now, driving her bike carefully through the crowded streets of San Francisco, for being such a coward at twelve and again at fifteen, _for not being brave. _

Maybe more importantly, she knew now, she had left the entirely of what little was left of the childhood Emily then, pushing JJ away with a start and curling into herself for a moment before she turned and shimmied out on the garage roof of the huge stone house and never looked back. She had slipped out the window of their foster house that night, leaving their old family friends and their odd son and her own twin behind. She couldn't think of anything else to do at that moment but set out for California, for somewhere seemingly ideal and far away. Emily didn't know even now why she hadn't stood firm and fought for her sweet and sensitive Katie in the end - for the undamaged part of herself that only ever looked adoringly back at her, despite her young fuck-ups - and who had once held the trembling young redhead in strong warm arms all the same. Maybe it was because her twin was the only one who could ever rattle her, make her think twice about everything and actually doubt herself. Well, until blonde hair and blue eyes swooped in and really fucked everything up for Emily at last.

She just had what could only be considered an incredible spell of raw and oddly emotional sex with Naomi Campbell the previous night, and despite her current flight to San Francisco Emily knew she had always wanted it all desperately from the first moment she first saw the blonde. Even if, the redhead knew deep down, it was always a bad idea to let herself go even a little bit in the other woman's presence, because _Jamie Harris_ was hiding something - something major. The redhead had seen Jamie's naked body, had touched her and kissed her and been inside of her, and even then Emily knew the blonde was holding some essential part of herself back. _Now she really knew what it was._

The FBI badge and the name inspired hatred in her right now, buzzing measuredly through the streets of the Castro district, even if it had stirred something unwelcome and nearly close to love when Emily had searched the room and found out Naomi's real identity the previous night. She had lingered for a long moment in the dark, looking over at the sleeping blonde, _badge in hand, secrets discovered,_ as she remembered how just some moments earlier they had been incredibly intimate through frantic fingers and relentless tongues and adoring gazes. Emily had paused for a long while in the cool night air, just thinking, but had simply stowed the offending badge in her backpack and turned back to the naked blonde body in the end. She would worry about it all later. The redhead had crawled back into the motel room bed and surrounded the sleeping body of Naomi Campbell with her presence, because she knew even then that she couldn't really help herself when it came to that other woman anymore. Emily had wrapped her small arms around the blonde's bare back and breathed her in until dawn - until they would inevitably have to face each other - and she hated herself that she could barely keep the tears from forming in her own dark eyes.

--------------------------------------------------

"Emily! Bloomin' heck you scared me!" the bright and cheerful figure of Pandora Moon suddenly hugged her tightly, even before Emily had announced herself and as she was in the process of taking her helmet off and parking her bike on the sidewalk. She finally freed herself from plastic and padding and smiled back at the colorful blonde's happy face, kissing her chastely on the lips for a brief moment before pulling her into a desperate hug. She looked over Panda's shoulder from the embrace for a wink and nod at Thomas, his dark face and wide grin finally making her feel more at home than perhaps she ever had in recent weeks. "What's up with the accent?" Emily finally asked, pulling away from the contact, leaving Panda holding her large black helmet with a huge grin, one the redhead couldn't help but match. "Thommo likes English girls," Panda said, moving into the shop, as if that explained everything, as if this was actually the real world. Emily just smiled at her floral patterned and retreating back in response. What else could she possibly do?

Emily had only met Pandora because of Effy - when both of them were hopeless runaways and Panda had defied her strict mother to hide them both in her basement late at night. The redhead pulled herself off her bike and felt a pang of affection for this blonde and then one of regret for the other, as she flashed involuntarily to images from those last few weeks when the four thieves were stealing something for Effy, and then something for Cook. She feared, _it terrified her really,_ that it was all going to fall apart before they got to the real endgame - Emily's desire. If Panda's shop wasn't the real world, those recent times in Minneapolis and Oklahoma had been another lifetime for the redhead entirely.

"You can still make it work, Emsy, it's gonna be whizzar," Panda assured her later, passing her a cup of bright green tea across the shop table, and not even noticing as Emily raised an eyebrow at the mug's contents and the redhead pushed it quietly away with subtle movements. Panda knew why all of this was important, even if she didn't know the depth of Emily's current misery. Emily loved her for it right now; they had known each other a very long time.

Panda surprised Emily then, as the redhead tried desperately to keep herself from the emotional brink and nearly reached out again for that mug of tea, when Panda announced what she had done, who she had called, who was here to save Emily.

Emily had known Effy even longer than her lovely Panda, and Effy was currently waiting for her outside the shop.


	8. Orestes

_A/N- This one is for JL10, because, yeah, I agree a little Effily action is necessary - since I treated them so badly the last time, lol. Also, I've heard this song spelled several different ways, so I'm going with the one I think fits best with all this nonsense. Thanks for reading._

_Orestes - APC_

_Gotta cut away, clear away_  
_Snip away and sever this_  
_Umbilical residue that's_  
_Keeping me from killing you_

_And from pulling you down with me in here_  
_I can almost hear you scream _

--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8 - Orestes

Minneapolis, MN, 4 January, this year. Late evening.

Emily Fitch was showing off again, twirling herself around the giant stem of the bright red cherry sculpture she was perched on, and Effy Stonem watched her tease the blonde woman even in the dark with flirty glances through her veiled eyelashes. Emily was in trouble with this one, the brunette decided, glancing at the tension between Jamie Harris and her redheaded thief for another long moment before snuffing her cigarette out on the dirt path and moving silently through the sculpture garden in the deep black of the oddly-snowless January evening. It was several weeks before Emily's flight to San Francisco and several missed chances to stop all of the events unfolding like this, Effy remembered, as the gang arrived in Minneapolis for their first job together. Even then Effy could see it was all too late for Emily, _it had been from the moment brown and blue eyes had locked in that biker bar in Chicago a few days ago._ As Emily slid off the cherry stem and tumbled herself carefully end over end across the arched handle of the spoon bridge, Jamie Harris watched from the edge of the water completely enthralled. Effy rolled her own dark green eyes in slight disgust and amusement as she silently watched the two of them move ever closer to ruining each other, even if the blonde and the redhead didn't seem to know it just yet. Effy turned her eyes to take in her own cold white breath in the chilly night air for a long moment.

The brunette whistled for the two hopeless women after an additional pause, just looking, before nodding at them across the dark hedges peppered with statues and letting them know it was time to get on with it - it was midnight on a Tuesday and it was time to steal Effy Stonem a painting from a special exhibition at the Walker Art Center. It was their chance to come away with it now, the artwork otherwise always in a private collection - deep underground in some vault and not just behind a few layers of inconvenient alarms and security wires. It was the first time Effy would get to see the work, up close, in person, and it was essential to her that she not only viewed the piece, _but possessed it. _

Effy Stonem was an unapologetic criminal, and she fit together with her partners in mischief ever so well. They were unstoppable. When it came to James Cook and Emily Fitch, both of them were all body and emotion while the green-eyed girl herself was always in her head, and it seemed they became something greater than the sum of their parts when they worked together. With the addition of one Jamie Harris, Effy wondered if this balance could be maintained, or if it would only just explode in the end. She knew which it would be, overall, but wouldn't say it out loud.

_Crime, what motivated crime? _she sometimes wondered. What drove all of them to take what didn't belong to them, and doing it with deliberate planning and flawless execution? Was it madness, or purification of some previous wrongs, or perhaps the three of them just had a vision for a certain way for the world to be put together, based entirely on their connection to each other. Maybe Effy Stonem was really just Orestes in the end, the Greek figure who committed terrible crimes against even his own family, but extenuating circumstances always mitigated his misdeeds in the end. She liked to think so, anyway.

If Effy thought of herself as Orestes, then Emily was certainly his sister Electra. Another redhead from a whole different span of time, neither of them ever once forgiving themselves for anyone else for what had happened to each woman's father, or her family, and both were set on revenge above all things. And Cook? Cook just had to be Achilles, the flawlessly constructed soldier with only one weakness.. one that could, unfortunately, destroy them all. They fit together, had found each other somehow in their time of need, and were currently happy enacting their very own comedy of errors and misdeeds across the United States. _Well until Jamie Harris, that is._ Effy didn't think just now how Jamie fit into their little mythology. Maybe she was just an unlucky mortal after all.

On the pale gray roof of the Art Center, some hundred feet off the ground in the bitter chill of the Minnesota winter wind swirling around them, the four thieves were geared out in black and harnesses and various essential pieces of equipment to break inside. Effy looked over at Emily, rolling her shoulders back and stretching her neck behind her, dark red hair pulled back smoothly in a tight ponytail and noticed that despite the cold, she hadn't worn a stocking cap this time but she often did. Sydney Bristow eat your fictional heart out, Emily was beautiful like this, in the moment of anticipation. Effy's nerves hummed. She loved this. Lived for it.

Cook pried open a roof panel, and one by one silently they slipped inside, to tight spaces where ductwork and pipes and pylons met high above their destination below. They moved together, Effy in the lead and Cook bringing up the rear, as twenty paces over, fifteen down they were finally positioned some fifty feet above the secured gallery where her prize was waiting for her, practically calling her name, shouting for her in her own mind.

Effy slid her delicate fingers around the edge of a ceiling panel, feeling for wires, knowing what would trigger the alarm, as she saw the blonde figure of Jamie Harris suddenly crouch and fuse a wire where the brunette's fingers were lingering. The blonde looked down at the small glowing screen of her digital code breaker, her face bathed in blue light and all eyes on her as she nodded in time with one alarm code disabled, then the second. Effy pried the panel away and positioned herself over the small open space, her legs pressed against one side of the opening, and her body dangling precariously over the dark gallery floor a sharp drop below, but she wasn't worried about falling. Cook propped his strong body against the wall and anchored the line connecting them, as Effy reached her long arms out for Emily, who leaned herself down, crawling in the tight space over Effy, preparing to dive through the hole.

Suddenly the blonde grabbed for the redhead's wrist, looking her silently in the eyes as Emily hovered in space above the brunette, and stayed like that for one more click of her code breaker. A third, previously unknown alarm. Relief spread through the blonde's features as she let Emily go, and the redhead turned to face Effy, a smirk dancing on both their faces. This was their high-wire act and they loved it. Emily slid her own limber body over Effy's strong one, licking her own lips before leaning down into a searing kiss with the brunette as Effy strapped her harness into the wire. Only this time, before disappearing into the darkness, Effy saw Emily taking a look back into the tight space, giving Jamie a wink before she vanished completely. Effy stared over at the blonde's shocked face, before smiling and looking with amused green eyes back at Cook, his muscles tense on the rope, but his face shaking with silent laughter. The blonde shook herself awake and followed Emily down the rope into the darkness, avoiding the same kind of intimate contact with Effy the redhead thought was somehow appropriate at a tense time like this.

"This is so ugly, I don't even know why we're doing this," Jamie whispered in the darkness to Emily, both of them suspended just above the floor and concentrating on the painting in front of them. "Effy wants it," was all that Emily would provide her in reply. Working in perfect sync, the blonde snapped the wires and deactivated a fourth and fifth set of electronic alarms, before Emily sliced the canvas away from the frame, both of them flying together suspended above the gallery floor.

"What's up with you two?" the blonde couldn't believe she had let herself ask, she must have been distracted by the deliberate movements of Emily's fingers, the unreal feeling of defying gravity next to the flirtatious redhead.

"Thievery is an intimate profession," was all the redhead had given her in response as she rolled up the painting and shimmied back up the rope. It wasn't nearly enough, and the blonde just stared up after her until Cook pulled her back up to the ceiling by pure muscle instead.

--------------------------------------------------

San Francisco, CA, 15 January, this year. Late afternoon.

Following her intimate and ill-advised collision with one Jamie Harris, Effy had followed Emily from Los Angeles to the Golden Gate Bridge and beyond after her lovely Panda's concerned phone call. "I'm bringing you back," Effy had said with certainty, her long brown hair shining in the San Francisco sunshine as she leaned against her dark blue Jaguar and eyed the sheepish redhead as she emerged from Panda's shop. "Leave the bike," she told Emily, pointing to her motorcycle, still crowding the sidewalk, "and get in."

The redhead frowned, her perfect features scrunching into a concerned grimace as she resisted. She stood firm.

Effy tried again, "We're doing this, it's so important to you. I don't care about the risks.." and that got Emily's attention.

"Jamie.. but Jamie isn't.." Emily sputtered. Effy held a hand up to silence her, stepping closely into the redhead's space. "Don't say anything," another step forward, "no matter what happened, I know she'll still do it," and another, "I've seen the way she looks at you." Effy was inches from Emily's confused face now, could see tears threatening to fall.

"But she.."

"Emily!"

"You don't.."

Effy grabbed the startled redhead by the sides of her face and kissed her firmly. Wide brown eyes stared up at her in confusion, but it shut the other woman's mouth at least, leaving a satisfied smirk on Effy's tingling lips. "We're doing it. I don't care if we get caught," Effy looked back at her adoringly for a moment, "Cook and I already got what we wanted. Now it's your turn."


	9. Crimes

_A/N- This one is for foolishgames for the Passive love. Oh, and Gravity is also a very sexy song. Just sayin'.._

_Crimes - APC_

_One...two...three _

_Four...five...six _

_Seven...eight...nine _

_Nine...nine...nine _

_Ten...ten...ten...ten _

_[unexplainable noise]_

--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9 - Crimes

Oklahoma road, 8 January, this year. Mid-afternoon.

All of this was only ever about Emily, and James Cook couldn't have been more pleased, watching the redhead stare out the passenger seat window of the speeding Land Rover as she let out a heavy sigh from her tense red lips, storm clouds rolling in behind her, before turning his attention back to the winding flat expanse of empty Oklahoma landscape in front of him as he drove them all forward. Emily Fitch was pressing her small fingers against the glass, tracing raindrops on the other side as they fell, splattering and streaming against the car window. Cook knew Emily was rattled by the blonde in the back seat, and had to try to suppress a wide grin or even choke back a throaty howl, knowing their little red thief was finally on the path to redemption or disaster. _It was about fuckin' time_, Cook thought, and _that girl has it bad - that girl is gonna finally figure it out or die trying_. He was satisfied, especially since he knew where they were headed, what they were stealing next. His prize.

Lightning crackled in the distance as he drove on, the miles not seeming to matter, as the view around them became a charged vision of sky and land. _Maybe heaven was somewhere in the middle._

Crime was James Cook's favorite game of all, and this next time it would be a fucking good one. Effy had her desire already, she practically couldn't stop running her fingers over the choppy paint strokes as she unrolled the canvas and examined it again and again in the back of the speeding vehicle. Laughing green eyes met his in the rear view mirror halfway to McAlester and the brunette smirked and put the painting away. The storm outside the windows was gathering, but it was his turn now.

The sky darkened, and the greens of the fields glowed in the rain, as each of them was lost in their own thoughts as they drove ever closer. Thoughts, at least three of them knew somehow, were rightfully all about Emily Fitch in the end. Cook and Effy had silently teased Emily to the point of scaring the life out of the little redhead, even making her spin around looking for some hopeless form of escape for a desperate moment in the shitty motel parking lot the previous night. Only two bedrooms available, even in the middle of nowhere, and Effy and Cook had claimed the first one for their own, snuffing matching cigarettes and disappearing with matching grins into the first as they left the redheaded thief and the blonde code breaker outside refusing to meet each other's eyes in the dark. Cook knew the two women had both ended up in the second room in the end, and laughed internally as he imagined the uncomfortable negotiations for sleeping arrangements that must have taken place over the single queen sized bed as a result. There was something about the way Emily looked at the blonde even now that was different than anything he had ever seen played across her perfect features. There was something more there, _he could see it_, and he didn't think it was just because Jamie Harris was one of the best natural criminals he had ever encountered.

The sky was still a bright shade of yellow, and the rain ceased for a time, as a deep blue and black suddenly formed in the sky in front of their vehicle. "Jesus Christ, Cook!" the blonde shouted from the backseat as four sets of eyes watched the violent whirl of a massive tornado cut across their path, far enough in the distance to be clearly seen and still far too dangerous to anyone who could observe it. Cook howled at the sight, Emily sighed, and Effy looked with amusement over at Jamie Harris, the blonde's hand gripping the brunettes' slim fingers desperately as her wide blue eyes and open mouth betrayed her shock and fear at the sight. Effy patted Jamie's hand in quiet reassurance as Cook pressed the accelerator down and drove straight on, his whistling turning into almost manic laughter as they sped past the storm, the heavy SUV blowing and rocking in the wind, and shot out the other side. "Fookin' right, Blondie, that will put some hair on ya chest in the end!" Cook shrieked as the blonde refused to meet his eyes in the rear view mirror. She couldn't even manage a meek "fuck you" as she looked out the side window and tried to quell her justified panic attack. He grinned at the still-entwined hands in the back seat, driving on.

--------------------------------------------------

Oklahoma army base, 8 January, this year. Night.

They arrived at and scouted out the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant that night, a military installation controlled and operated by US government personnel, and the four of them had stood on one of 45,000 acres in southeastern Oklahoma, all looking up at a wall of fencing and razor wire. Six ammunition production, maintenance and renovation complexes were laid out in front of them, but that wasn't where they were headed. It was a simple office building that housed what Cook really wanted, and it just happened to be at the Defense Department's largest explosive storage facility.

"We're not actually going to steal a warhead are we?" the blonde had asked, perhaps mostly to herself in the warm night air, and Cook simply laughed though quietly this time, "What the _fuck_ would the four of us do with one of those?"

Making their way onto the roof of a plain looking office building, there were no wires this time. Jamie disabled a single alarm with a different electronic tool glowing in her hands, bathing them all in green light this time as Cook cut his way through the reinforced metal roof with a small blow torch and opened a hole. _I gotta get me some of Blondie's equipment connections_, he thought to himself, as he opened a small path inside. Emily moved close and kissed Cook, lightly, grinning into his lips as he hugged her closely, before she turned and left a quick peck on the blonde's cheek, startling her, before disappearing down into the darkness.

"Come on, Blondie, let's take a walk," Cook whispered quietly to Jamie's concerned face as she stared at the spot Emily had been only a moment before. The two slid silently off the roof of the low building, leaving Effy looking down at where Emily was busy stealing something with an affectionate smile. When Cook and Jamie were at last outside the fence after a quick retracing of their previous steps, avoiding only one patrolling Humvee in the process, the blonde finally spoke.

"Why are we doing this? Couldn't you just walk in during daylight hours and get whatever it is you're after? There really isn't much security on that part."

"It wouldn't be the same, love," was all Cook offered her in response.

After a long quiet moment his eyes lit up and so did hers as they saw the two small figures moving close to them in the dark. The brunette and the redhead moved effortlessly over high fencing and razor wire and landed silently in front of them. Emily twirled the small object in her fingers for a second before presenting it with great flourish and a bow to Cook in her open palm. "Your challenge coin, sir," she said with a smile.

Three figures stood looking at the coin with wide grins, but one had a furious scowl instead. Jamie Harris was getting agitated, "WHAT? You could have bought that on E-Bay or something, for fuck's sake!"

"This one belonged to someone special, Blondie," Cook winked cryptically back to her.

"Who?"

He simply flipped the coin in the pleasant night air and smiled back at her, "Does it really matter?"

This only made the blonde furious and she, for once, didn't try to hide it. "Where is this actual big score, I'm getting bored with this nonsense," she ran her fingers through her loose blonde hair and scowled at all three of them. "First, a bloody painting and now a fucking common army coin? Are you kidding me?"

"All in good time, my'dear," Cook began to move back to their hidden vehicle and the others followed, save the blonde, and he turned back.

"Here's the thing," he finally offered her clenched expression, "if you are able to steal a challenge coin, everyone in the group must buy you a drink. And I could really use one right now, Blondie. So could you."

This didn't placate Jamie Harris and she spat back at him, the menace heavy in her voice, "I was promised something special. _Don't_ fucking waste my time."

Cook turned back, and began walking once again to the distantly parked Land Rover as the brunette and the redhead fell in step behind him.

"Fine then, Blondie, pack your bags for LA."


	10. Choke

_A/N- This one goes out to the usual crowd for being so awesome and having so many good fics to read I almost just gave up completely to just read instead, lol. But this is to JL10 for the reviews, foolishgames for the awesome that is Electric Feel, Stunty - you are too sweet, thank you, niceoneBlondie for INK-omg I LOVE Ink-and of course, HyperFitched for writing like a crazy person lately despite the head blows and broken laptop- you are who we all want to be when we grow up._

Choke- APC

Breaking the bonds you swear  
that you swear to feel  
Can you awake from sleep downed  
you allow me to steal  
Gagging on selfish hide  
when you crawl to kneel  
  
--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10 – Choke

Santa Monica, CA, 11 January, this year. 

Naomi Campbell rode in the back of the blue Jaguar, her hands playing with themselves in her lap, on the way to their latest destination. She watched the world flash by outside the car window. She could only think, _God, I hate California._

The blonde was used to the rolling hills of Virginia, the steady order of DC, and she could hardly stand the dust and intense sunshine and dry heat of California even in the winter like it was now. The crowds - fuck the tourists. Why would anyone chose to come here knowing there was nothing more in the cities or the desert than superficiality? Nobody here was real in the slightest.

Even though Naomi had spent the last few weeks in a whirl of art and tornadoes and awkward feelings, she had always held tight to the fact that this.. mission.. experience? had some larger purpose. She was there, lying every second to them - this group of interesting misfits - but she was there, in some sense of herself in the end. Maybe, she thought, maybe she was just going through the motions in getting them these little scores those past few weeks. Her brain never stopped focusing on the hope for the large one in the end. Or perhaps, if she was being honest, she couldn't stop thinking about a certain redhead and really, screw all the rest. But she wasn't that honest yet, even with herself.

The end result would be the same to Naomi - she would either burn or she would fix it all in one tense moment. And then the other three would all be arrested, hopefully, and Naomi could escape back to her boring and ordered life once again. But oh, she already burned. She already could not take those few moments when Emily seemed to let go and tease her relentlessly around that sculpture in Minneapolis. She was in rare form that night, Naomi thought, trying to break her in some unique way, when she flirted and twirled and tried to get Naomi to slip up just by breathing in her ear. And kissing Effy, something Emily seemed to do with increasing frequency these past few days, every time Emily caught "Jamie" staring at her for a little too long. The blonde was too well trained for that, she convinced herself, because little redheaded thieves and pressure and things she didn't ever want to seriously think about were just part of the plan, in the end.

Naomi saw deep blue swimming pools and all kinds of pretty people flashing past as they drove. All of it so fake and unnecessary and disconnected. It seemed to be crackling with danger all the same, just then. Oklahoma was no better. Sharing a room? She glanced over to Cook in the front passenger seat, and Effy at the wheel. She hated them both at that moment, just hated them for what they both had put her through, because it did something to Emily, and now Emily was after the blonde with a new kind of manic intensity. It was the little redhead in the seat beside her that unraveled her in the end, as she herself was becoming increasingly unraveled as well, and Naomi didn't even try to pretend otherwise just then. She wouldn't, couldn't even look the few inches to her left and check. She knew the person to ruin her life was there playing with her red hair and frowning, staring out the window just now in a mirror image of her own activity. And Effy simply drove them all on, quietly.

Naomi Campbell knew she was fake. She had told them she was Jamie Harris, in the end, and at their beginning. She had told them all an easy lie because she had to, and she had never felt bad about it before now. She had never felt like she had betrayed anyone when she was undercover before, but she did this time, and new she would only betray them further when and if this all went down like they said it would. She needed to call Freddie, her handler, she needed to tell him that she couldn't do it this time, it was too much. She would never admit it to him, but she loved these people already - Cook and Effy, and.. Oh, Emily. No, she wasn't going to think about how she felt about Emily just yet. It wasn't the time.

None of the other three seemed to notice her misery and conflict, just then, set into their little gang and driving forward in Effy's deep blue Jaguar. Naomi tried her best to keep the internal turmoil from showing on her face, because while "Jamie" was allowed to be agitated, but Naomi knew she, her real self, was starting to crack. She couldn't do this much longer.

Naomi had kept her distance from Emily since their awkward moment in Oklahoma, when the other two had forced them to share a bed and Naomi knew she would never be the same again. Emily, who always just looked at her with an odd intensity - eyes taking her apart, was a constant problem in those last few weeks, when she wasn't ignoring Naomi completely and she was just.. flirting, ruining her. It had only gotten worse lately, and Naomi just wanted to get away this time. Thankfully, they were almost there. The blonde could only think the whole thing was deliberate on the redhead's part, to rattle her and see if the FBI agent would slip up somehow. She nearly had, several times, and even if Emily didn't know her secret yet, Naomi knew somehow she would know in the end. Emily would KNOW and then things would go very bad very fast.

Palm trees, blue water, the expanse of the Pacific came upon them all in a rush as they suddenly reached the end of the earth and arrived in Santa Monica at last. The four of them settled into some happy agreement for a time and they sat in some shit restaurant on the beachfront, not thinking of anything else for once, and just eating some strange food called fish tacos. Naomi was too tired to care that it was the most disgusting thing she had ever heard of, even if the end result wasn't as bad as she had anticipated. The quiet wouldn't last for more than a few minutes, and it was Naomi's lack of self-control that broke it.

"What is it, then?" Naomi finally choked out, her gaze deliberately avoiding Emily and staring out into the wide blue sea, before meeting Effy's amused green eyes. She had to know if it was true.

"We're going after the formula. You must know the one," Cook offered, way too casually. Oh, Naomi knew the F & F Corporation. Knew it as well as she knew herself after all her study and research, preparation that was failing her now. But she couldn't believe it, even as he spoke on, "the personal property of the board chairman in fact, her personal property locked away in her office at the top of the tower and we're gonna steal it." Cook finished, looked at her expectantly.

_No,_ Naomi thought, _no, the formula was just a story, just a legend. Even though I'm here, I committed to this plan, this cannot be where this is heading._ Her resulting agitation was far more obvious than she would have liked.

"How do you even know it's there?" this question escaped from Naomi's lips even though she didn't intend it to. Ever.

"It's there," was all that Cook offered in return, still staring back.

"What? Impossible," Naomi countered, not even caring that her cover could be blown, if she was too forward in her questions, just wanting to know. Wanting to know if this was real or important enough to make her suffering worthwhile.

"Not impossible," was all Cook said in the end, not even pretending that he needed to explain anything to someone he didn't really know. Effy tilted her head at him in agreement and lit a cigarette, earning a nasty grunt from a nearby busboy. The brunette ignored him, of course. Naomi refused to look at Emily for her reaction, knowing the redhead sitting beside her was undoubtedly staring again, looking for something.

Normally, Jamie Harris would have folded or called for backup or just disappeared, in a moment like that. Normally, she would have made some excuse and run away. Not this time, and Jamie Harris/Naomi Campbell spoke rather quickly, in the end. "The logistics of bypassing the security on a place like that.. that's even out of my league.. and even if we get in there, how do we get it out?" Naomi shocked her self at her outburst, but not the other three, who all started to smile at each other.

Several long moments passed. "Well?" it seems that this time, Naomi was adamant, and finally wanted an answer. It was the brunette that took pity on her first.

"We have an edge," Effy finally spoke. This time, Naomi could literally feel Emily's eyes on her, those intense chocolate eyes that had never actually left her face since Minneapolis, it seemed. But she continued to press the other two, across the table.

"We have her twin right here," Cook grinned, and he laughed in an almost manic fashion at his own little bomb of information and Naomi had to dig deep to physically keep her expression from giving tell.

"Her twin, really.." was all Naomi could muster, and she finally looked the redhead's way at last.

Emily met her eyes for the first time in days and just smirked back for a long moment.

Naomi, somehow, found her voice again, breaking the gaze at last and turning back to Cook. "Of course.. founded by Dr. Robert Fitch, that company, and the formula that could change everything, for the worse.."

Naomi felt the chair legs scrape back against the rough wood before she heard them. And turned back to Emily once again, now on her feet and walking away from the table. The redhead turned back and looked pointedly at Naomi over her shoulder. "Genius, you are," she said in a low growl, "and you're going to be the one that gets me close enough to get back what is rightfully mine." Emily narrowed her eyes, and turned away suddenly, walking down the beach towards the Santa Monica Pier and carnival in the distance. Naomi could only watch her go, her sense of dread rising with each step the redhead took away from her.


	11. The Noose

_A/N - Thanks for the sweet welcome back, ithinktherefore - and as requested, a quick #11, just for you. _

_Foolishgames - oh your fic is getting addicting (sorry your Cook!) and I like your idea about dates. Done and done at last. All chapters now edited with dates, locations, and uh.. time of day if necessary. Hopefully I made it fit, because I had to change just a couple of things around. Now I'm happy with this whole thing at last, and I will make it a darn good ride from here on out. Thanks again._

_The Noose - APC_

_Recall the deeds as if  
They're all someone else's  
Atrocious stories  
Now you stand reborn before us all  
So glad to see you well _

--------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11 - The Noose

LA Freeway, 14 January, this year. Late afternoon.

Emily Fitch couldn't stop looking at Jamie Harris from the first moment they locked eyes, weeks ago in that bar in Chicago. Couldn't seem to stay away from those piercing blue eyes or long lithe figure, so she stared. Or ignored - never anything in between. Emily was currently ignoring Jamie, sitting beside her in the back seat as Effy drove them from the beach where they had visited that same shit restaurant once again (Cook's choice) and down through Los Angeles this time. Emily stared out her own window instead, her small fingers toying with a strand of dark red hair. Emily hated it, hated the lack of self control the blonde seemed to inspire in her so since the acquisition of Cook's coin in Oklahoma a few days ago and so she had started to kiss Effy instead. A lot.

Not that it was unusual for them to kiss, well, for Emily to kiss Effy anyway, it was her _thing_ and Effy let her, but it never seemed to go beyond that. Emily didn't know if Effy and Cook were actually together or how they decided to define their relationship, but she knew they had a special something. Though it was the three of them falling into a seamless rhythm since they had met Cook one dark night several years ago, pulling him off the rails of the Golden Gate Bridge in a moment of his drunken weakness, the other two were always closer. They had pulled him down, wrapping both of their sets of arms around him, never to let go again. Cook and Effy were just that from that moment on - _Cook and Effy_. Emily sometimes thought she just tagged along to their pairing and she thought herself a loner in the end. Well, she knew she could live alone until she had seen those blue eyes boring into her for the first time. Now she knew she couldn't. And wouldn't.

She couldn't help herself, teasing Jamie atop her favorite sculpture in the world outside the Walker in Minnesota, perhaps one of the only people who could twirl around that cherry stem without breaking the whole damn thing, because she was delicate in her movements even if her flirting had been aggressive. She wanted Jamie to want her desperately, and she was pretty sure Jamie did, just from the way her eyes followed her even that night, and the anger that flashed across her face in a brief second as she had kissed Effy before dropping into the darkness. _Good,_ Emily thought ignoring the blonde sitting beside her now, _be as uncomfortable as you make me, Jamie. You've got something more going on and I'm going to find it out. We both know it._ Emily heard the blonde sigh across the backseat, and Emily sighed back.

Emily's eyes narrowed as they sailed through the busy downtown freeway in Los Angeles, heading back into the desert, the waning sunlight glinting off the windshield of Effy's blue Jaguar and into Emily's eyes, and she saw it at last. She saw the F & F Corporation building, tall and rising above the traffic and the commuter train railing and all of the surrounding buildings in that part of the city landscape. Her destination, Emily's score, the thing she wanted most in the world would be hers tomorrow night, and it was currently hidden in a vault in an office at the very top. Locked in Katie's office, an office that would be empty because Katie was never in it, her twin lived all the way on the other side of the country, Emily knew, puttering around some hospital in DC and cleaning up after sick people, even though she was the acting board chair of one of the top-grossing pharmaceutical companies in the world. The company their father had founded, and that had spread to a global power since the untimely demise of their parents, some 15 years ago. What Emily was here for, and what she really wanted, was currently accessible only to her twin - the last little scrap of paper that their father had ever scribbled, one late night in a lab in South Carolina - and the reason he was dead. The reason all of this had happened.

Emily could feel Jamie's eyes on her suddenly as she looked out the car window, and the redhead refused to look back. She let the blonde study her for a moment instead, just to play nice for the first and only time in weeks. Sharing a bed in Oklahoma, some dingy motel bed that had been way too small to contain even a fraction of the humming tension between the redhead and the blonde, even then, had been pure torture. Neither of them had slept a wink, so focused on the smallest movements the other had made as they pretended to sleep toe to head, and Emily knew, she had been in turn torturing Jamie ever since. Trying to crack her. Tonight, at last, she knew she would. She smirked to herself and met Jamie's stare at last. The blonde visibly swallowed and looked away after a long second. Emily knew she was going to win it all just then, and kept her eyes on the figure beside her, now fidgeting uncomfortably and staring down at her nervous fingers. _Squirm,_ Emily thought, _burn with it all._

--------------------------------------------------

California desert, 14 January, this year. Mid-morning, afternoon, and late night.

It was a strange sort of coming together for the four of them these last few weeks, crossing half the country and committing a whole host of illegal activity before arriving in California at last, a few days ago. The time since, they had spent either at Cook's favorite (terrible) restaurant on the beach, for the view more than the food, certainly, and planning the operation into the F & F building in great detail, special equipment and their final rehearsal having been set up in some empty storage warehouse in the desert, some 20 miles east of the city. The dust and the heat of that space had gotten to Emily at last as she hung suspended from a rusty rafter earlier that morning, and she had unhooked herself from the cable and fell with a silent drop the short distance onto the floor, landing effortlessly on her feet and walking over towards the others. The blonde had been fiddling with some equipment for counting the distance down an elevator shaft, having a seemingly endless supply of black devices with a practical rainbow of glowing digital screens; Emily had been thinking that the only time they couldn't keep their eyes off each other was when Jamie was staring at one of her devices. _Where does she get it all?_ the redhead wondered, briefly, before pulling the blonde's hand away, setting the device on a rickety counter and pulling her outside without a word. Effy had smirked at their backs and Cook had hooted with laughter at Jamie's startled face, but the blonde let herself be pulled away anyway.

Emily's new motorcycle, purchased the previous day, had been sitting outside the warehouse in the dust of the parking lot and she straddled it easily, pulling her black helmet over her loose red hair and nodding to Jamie to pick up the second helmet from the seat and get on, and the blonde woman had. She had never felt more alive than with Jamie holding on to her waist tightly as they blazed through the desert, toward the mountains, and only returned to the warehouse several hours later, both humming with the thrill of their non-stop ride at top speeds and starving. Effy had said only one thing at the restaurant, speaking through her cigarette as the others ate, looking straight at Jamie as they sat beach-side and ate tacos again, "Tomorrow, it's happening tomorrow."

Jamie had made a decent attempt at not looking nervous, and dinner was finished in silence.

And so of course, as night fell and the four of them found themselves sitting in some dive bar in the middle of the desert, Cook insisted they all get completely wasted and for once, Jamie did, matching Cook nearly shot for shot of cheap tequila across the bar table. Effy just watched, smirking, and Emily sipped a beer, before stealing one of Jamie's shot glasses and downing the burning liquid in one go. Emily whispered in the blonde's ear deliberately blowing hot breath on her neck, "_for luck_," and Jamie simply shuddered at the brief contact of Emily's fingers pressing into her shoulder and downed another shot herself.

Jamie was playing with fire in more ways than one tonight and Emily's lips curled up at the thought. She was delighted. _Burn._

Later, Cook and Effy had absconded off somewhere, no doubt to shag madly, and Jamie found herself alone with Emily at last. As the blonde noticed the fact they were practically alone in the bar, Emily was circling her prey in her mind. The redhead was noting Jamie was just now on the verge of losing the ability for rational conversation, due to nearly an entire bottle of tequila downed between the blonde and Cook just then, but Emily was shocked, suddenly. Jamie spoke first in the end.

"Why do you do all this? You don't have to, Emily," she said quietly, looking into Emily's eyes with an open expression in her own bright blue ones.

The redhead pulled away from her seat next to the blonde as if burned, and got to her feet but didn't break her stare, "Who the hell do you think you are?" she said angrily, to which the blonde simply responded, "a friend."

"Fuck you! You're just as bad as me!" Emily sputtered, closing the distance between them and towering over the blonde, now slightly slumped in her seat.

"Yes, I am," Jamie had admitted, softly, "but I don't have anything else. You could be so much more." Her eyes were still honest, Emily thought, and even the redhead didn't plan what happened next. Emily pulled the blonde to her feet, still swaying slightly, before Emily wrapped her fingers in long blonde hair and crushed their lips together, kissing her at last. The blonde laced her arms around the smaller woman and kissed her back, with equal fervor, opening her mouth and letting Emily taste the sharp liquor still lingering heavily on the blonde woman's breath. It intoxicated them both completely.

And the next morning would come far too soon for either of them.


	12. Magdalena

_A/N - Oh, this got very dirty, very fast. Shield your eyes, anyone that didn't notice the M rating on this fic. The rest of you, enjoy - as you should. It's about damn time. _

_Magdalena - APC_

_So pure  
So rare  
To witness such an earthly goddess  
That I've lost my self control  
Beyond compelled to throw this dollar down before your  
Holiest of altars_

Chapter 12 - Magalena

California desert town, January 14/15, this year. Midnight and early morning.

Naomi Campbell finally let in to her feelings - half a bottle of cheap tequila later - and could hardly believe she was doing what she felt herself doing, some part of her knowing the actions she was taking just then left her laid bare and in the suddenly not-so-delicate arms of the enemy at last. In fact, she knew, feeling the demanding lips and eager hands of Emily Fitch on her own, pulling at her, spinning her around in her own mind as they stood clinging to each other in some dive bar, that it had been her intention all along. _Letting go._ Having an excuse, through some external chemical force at last, to actually let go for the first time in her life.

Naomi kissed the redhead fiercely back, her hot tongue sliding into the eager mouth pressed to hers with an unreal sense of determination, even as time stopped and the room started to twist a bit. She could feel one firm hand tangled in her hair and one strong arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her from falling to the floor. _So this_, she thought in an unguarded moment, touching soft red hair and cupping a soft cheek with her long fingers at last, _is perhaps what life is all about in the end._ She breathed Emily in and pressed back into her lips like oxygen didn't even matter anymore, just red. Just Emily.

The redhead pulled back at last, not moving more than a few inches away from Naomi's parted lips, looking her straight in the eyes, her own deep brown looking almost black in the dim light and stared at her for a long moment. She was just then taking the blonde apart just as much as she had the first time they had ever really looked at each other.

"You're sure?" Naomi felt the question whispered against her lips with unreal anticipation and longing. The blonde could only answer like her life depended on it, and she knew it did, "I'm sure, Emily, please.. please just kiss me again," she had felt herself say softly back, pleading almost.

That was all it took for the redhead to seem to let go completely and pull her back in, her hand gripped almost painfully behind the nape of the blonde's neck as she slid her own tongue between Naomi's eager lips, Emily having licked them just then for just a split second before crushing her own warm mouth against Naomi's once again for a long moment. Emily then pulled the very life out of her as the redhead sighed against her lips with a hot breath; Emily's own abandon an indescribable turn-on as they connected their bodies almost frantically, each just wanting the other in that moment.

It was, what was happening just now, only the result of several weeks of confusing feelings and a wanting, _aching_, and confusing connection that Naomi had never felt before in all of her twenty-eight years, the blonde tried to reason just then in her fuzzy and twirling brain. This wasn't, couldn't be the moment she had been waiting for all her life, not at all. She didn't know what it meant at first, and she stumbled a bit, as Emily pulled away again and gripped her hand tightly, pulling her out of the bar - nobody had even taken any notice of them yet - and kissed her again in the near-darkness of the parking lot. Naomi could hardly see the street or the woman in front of her at all anymore, before she felt the redhead pulling away once again and leading them on. Naomi lost a bit of time just then - until she felt her overheated body press back against cool sheets and Emily Fitch straddled her hips, unstoppable.

"I grew up on a farm.. in erm, Virginia," Naomi choked out, watching the redhead pull her top off. Emily furrowed her brow in confusion for a quick moment before laughing, just laughing at the blonde she had pinned to the cheap motel bed. "What the _fuck_ are you talking about?" Emily chuckled as she ripped open Naomi's plaid button-down shirt in one quick movement. "I.. I did!" the blonde had felt herself sputter, averting her gaze at last from the warm and flushed flesh in front of her eyes, "I grew up with a bunch of hippies and I never got anything for myself, and.." Emily cut her off just then, pushing a delicate finger to her lips, "Shut the fuck up, Jamie, and just enjoy this," the redhead's words cut through her, noting no sense of unkindness - just an overwhelming wave of wanting from Emily as the redhead looked back at her. Naomi felt increasingly disconnected from her own head and was sputtering, just then, trying to bring it all back to her real self.

"My mother, she is terribly odd, but nice.." the blonde said, despite the hot mouth devouring her exposed neck, and at that Emily pulled back, just then, and looked her skeptically in the face, "do you really want to talk about this now?" Emily had one hand on her shoulder, pinning her there, and another, running down her exposed stomach and playing with the button of her jeans. "Yes! No, no.. no. What?" the tequila was obviously getting to Naomi's head just then, and she knew she was in deeper trouble than she had ever been before, even though she knew somehow she was looking at the other woman like this was the only place she could ever want to be on earth.

"Don't speak, _don't think_," Emily ducked down and whispered in her ear just then, and Naomi closed her eyes and finally let go herself in response to the hot breath on her neck. This was going to end badly, she knew, but she couldn't help herself as the redhead popped the button of her jeans and pulled away suddenly to yank them off completely. "Nothing underneath, Jamie, nicely done," the redhead had whispered deeply, as she climbed back up her naked body towards the blonde's eager face and attacked her neck again.

"Oh, please," Naomi felt herself say, "oh," and she felt herself feel completely full for the first time ever as delicate fingers circled her clit quickly and then pushed deeply into her, she knew already she was terribly wet just from the kissing and closeness and.. _oh_. Emily groaned into her ear just then, as the blonde's hips responded involuntarily and pushed back into the redhead's fingers, not at all hesitantly. Naomi felt an embarrassingly intimate moan escaped her lips just then, as the redhead started a slow and even rhythm in and out of her with ease. "Oh, Emily," she gasped, "oh, I want you so much," and knew, even in that lost moment, that she would try to deny forever that she had ever reacted that way to the firm yet delicate touch currently overwhelming her.

Moans and _ums_ and _ohs_ escaped freely from her lips and Naomi was just lucid enough to know she really didn't know who she was anymore, _at all_, as Emily pushed into her one final time and curled her fingers up and flicked her clit with a firm thumb as she licked the blonde up the side of her neck. "Oh, oh, OH!" Naomi whispered as she felt herself clench around demanding fingers and came with an incredible rush of energy throughout her whole body. Naomi, whatever her current state, knew she was ruined at last.

Earlier, in the bar, the blonde had looked up at Emily Fitch with an intense honesty the redhead had never once seen in her entire life. Well, maybe Katie tried that once or twice when they were little, but Emily didn't take kindly to anyone that thought that they could look at her, really look at her, and make her feel less than totally in control. She found herself kissing Jamie Harris with an uncontrollable desire that had invaded her out of nowhere, and didn't think for one moment that the invasion was mutual until it was far too late. The blonde had kissed her back, kissed her back with an intensity and a frantic need that the redhead was until then, convinced she would never experience in her life. It startled her. She had plenty of experience kissing pretty girls, one mysterious one in particular, and yet this - even despite the harsh bite of tequila, was something special.

Emily had gotten lost in those open blue eyes for a moment and had just.. parted her lips against the other woman's hot mouth instead of thinking, pulling the other woman to her feet and tangling her hands in her hair in an almost romantic gesture. The redhead knew she couldn't do anything else in that moment, that she was in too deep at last. But romance, no. Just _no_ - this was about power in the end.

They had tumbled into bed, several desperate kisses and some kind of desperate pleading from the blonde later, nowhere to go but to Jamie's shit hotel room - thankfully right across the road from that ill-fated bar, the one with the cheap tequila that had caused all this in the first place. And Jamie, the redhead couldn't believe, had tried to talk, had tried to make this something more than sexual tension and untapped energy and desire when they had first tumbled into the blonde's unmade bed. Emily made a great point to shut her up and take away her power, pushing her fingers inside quickly and unraveling the other woman. _As it should be. _

What Emily didn't expect, what she couldn't possibly plan for, was that Jamie wouldn't crumble after the redhead had invaded her, rightfully, and in every sense of the word. What her brain was screaming at her to stop but her body overrode, was the fact that the blonde seemed all kinds of oddly energized after that first experience and flipped Emily over onto her back, just moments after the redhead had smugly removed her roughly planted fingers from Jamie's most intimate space. What Emily could never plan for was what she physically felt just then, _what was absolute ruin_, when the blonde whispered into her neck, "I want to taste you."

The redhead's eyes closed involuntarily at that, and the blonde kissed her way quickly down her tense body, removing the rest of her clothing in one swift movement, and settled with a sigh between Emily's thighs. "No," was all she could whimper, but the blonde just looked into her eyes for a long moment before looking back down and smiling into her wetness as she hummed with warm breath, "yes." The blonde's tongue, _oh god_, her hot mouth, surrounded Emily in one small lunge and she licked her up and down in one deliberate movement of her tongue and incredibly soft lips. Emily let her head fall back, gripping the sheets, as she thought she had never felt anything so wonderful in her life. The woman that had her, pinned her, ruined her, was currently devouring her from the inside out and Emily couldn't be more in the moment, had never been so inside herself before. "Oh," was all Emily could whimper, and oh, she wanted this so badly. She didn't even know it could get better, get more intimate, until the blonde had wound her fingers up to meet her aggressive tongue and slipped inside the redhead with ease.

"Oh, GOD, Jamie, _oh_," was all that Emily could muster, and that only seemed to spur the blonde woman on, in the end. She was relentless, and looked back up at Emily with wide blue eyes as she knew, she must have known, she devoured the redhead just then - looking intently as she gave a few rough licks and her eyes narrowed at the sight as Emily lost control. Jamie's eyes closed at last, stopped staring at the smaller woman for just a moment, and unreal pleasure ripped through Emily as she was left panting and almost pleading in the hotel bed at last. The redhead closed her eyes for a brief second before she sighed and pulled the blonde woman up into her arms. It seemed Jamie had lost it, at that point, licking her fingers and just giggling and falling over clumsily into Emily's arms, but neither of them cared just then. "I think I love you, Red," the blonde muttered into her pillow, rolling over, before falling suddenly asleep - paying no mind to the startled figure of Emily Fitch tensing beside her in the hotel bed. It was too much for at least one of them just then.


	13. The Package

_A/N- Hi all. Sorry for the short delay. Working all weekend and being sick and other such moany things. BUT, as a treat to old friends (you know who you are, thanks for the reviews) and new ones (you also all know who you are, keep writing awesome stuff) here it is at last. And my lungs may burn but your questions don't have to any longer. In which Emily Fitch goes a bit mental, again (hat tip to the reader who was reviewing the Trial of Emily Fitch today and cracking me up as I read it again and was all.. what was I thinking?) Good times. Enjoy._

_The Package - APC_

_Clever got me this far  
Then tricky got me in  
I am what I'm after  
I don't need another friend  
Smile and drop the cliche  
'Till you think I'm listening  
I take just what I came for  
Then I'm out the door again _

Chapter 13 - The Package

Los Angeles, CA, January 15, this year. Late night.

"It doesn't' have to be like this, Emily!" Naomi pleaded with the other woman, softly, as the redhead's fingers wrapped ever tighter around her sister's neck, clearly paining the elder twin as she started to turn purple and choke, shoved up against the office wall.

"Oh, yes, it does," was all Emily muttered in the dark room, her angry eyes still boring into Katie Fitch and her small fingers clenching against the brunette's windpipe, as Naomi could see fear splashed in Katie's eyes as she stared back at her own twin, disbelieving. Emily wasn't listening to her, Naomi decided in one quick assessment just then, and she knew she had to take action. Nobody was supposed to die tonight. And nobody would, if she could help it.

"Emily, Emily.." the blonde started reciting, moving ever closer to the tense situation, quiet feet stepping over oriental rugs and her senses humming with the danger of the moment. Emily was unpredictable, now that she was so near what she wanted, and Naomi knew she couldn't do anything sudden that could escalate the other woman's emotions, which - given their earlier conversation that late afternoon after Effy had brought Emily back to the city - were troubled, to say the least. "Emily!" she whispered again, this time a bit more forcefully. She still wasn't getting through.

"Emily, because I love you, because I _want_ to love you - please don't do this," she went there at last, her voice incredibly soft in the quiet room, knowing that would get the younger twin's attention, and it did. She knew she didn't have a choice. Naomi suddenly took in the sight of two sets of chocolate eyes staring back at her in disbelief, and all Naomi cared about was that the redhead's fingers started to release a little, even as her body stayed tense.

"Don't, Naomi, just.. she has something that belongs to me and I need it back," Emily was wavering, for only a second, still looking into sincere blue eyes, but it was enough for the blonde to swoop in, just needing an instant, and grab the small redhead from behind in a semi-bear hug and pull her back. "Don't, please, just don't," Naomi breathed in to her ear, physically restraining her and wrapping her own strong arms around the woman she loved, her heart breaking every second, "you go get it. I'll take care of her. Just trust me." Naomi breathed the redhead's scent in for a long moment, and then let her arms go slack as Emily pulled away, moving over toward the small and inconspicuous cabinet in the corner. No, the safe wasn't behind the large painting framed on the wall in back of the large and imposing desk, wasn't under or around any of the Chinese lanterns or expensive vases, was hidden inside the plain yet delicate wooden cabinet, standing only a few feet high, in the far corner of the room. Naomi watched Emily pop open the door of the cabinet and go to work. The blonde turned back and caught Katie Fitch in her arms instead, as the brunette pulled herself away from the wall and stumbled, for a half step. She let Naomi hold her then, only one of them trembling.

The blonde, turning her eyes and attention back to Emily, kept her arms tight around the brunette and whispered softly in her ear, just then, "Shhh.. it's going to be okay. I'm FBI, and you're safe, I promise." Naomi didn't hesitate for a second giving herself up for the elder twin, felt her relax a small bit in her arms, and both of them turned to watch Emily click open the door of the hidden safe and snatch the folded piece of paper,_ the formula_, up in her fingers, her eyes getting wide and her face practically glowing. Naomi thought it was the most beautiful and horrible moment she had ever seen in her life, and she and Katie held each other tighter, both needing the comfort.

Earlier that evening, in the parking garage of the F & F building, when Naomi had stood there in the semi-darkness with Cook at her side, she saw Effy's car pull up and knew she would either die or be saved in one instant when she saw Emily again. She felt grateful, just then, that Freddie had been in almost constant contact since their meeting in the diner that morning and she knew they had hundreds of federal agents waiting to storm the building, and it would explode in grand fashion - when Emily finally put her fingers on her package, her prize, one stupid little piece of paper that meant so much - and they would finally have enough to put them all away forever. Naomi's heart was thundering at the extreme tension she felt just then, as Effy got out of the car first and raised an eyebrow in her general direction, before she saw a flash of dark red hair that started coming toward her. Naomi stood firm, facing the enemy.

"You," Emily had spat softly at her, her deep voice riddled with tension, "you owe me." The redhead was in her face now, dangerously close again, and pointed a finger between the blonde's eyes as they looked intensely at each other for a long moment, knowing the other two were following their every movement. Emily felt it too, and grabbed Naomi by the arm to pull her further away. She glanced over at the others for a quick moment, seeing them begin to put their heads together and speak softly to each other, Cook and Effy against the world once again, and Emily turned back to her at last. The redhead was furious, but Naomi wasn't scared, just then. She looked at back at Emily and couldn't help but to have her heart on her sleeve, bleeding for the redhead, and bleeding for all of them. One of them, at least, maybe both, knew where this was going. The blonde could only grip Emily's tense body with a hand on each shoulder and hold her firm, and just stare back.

"You said you loved me," Emily scowled even more as Naomi's eyes went wide at this news, but continued, "and if you say you love me, _Naomi_, you're going to get me in there, and help me do this, and I don't care what comes after." Emily's voice got quiet on that last bit, but her gaze never wavered. Naomi could only stare back, grip the smaller woman's shoulders tighter, and agree. Of course she would agree. "I got you this far," Emily whispered, moving her face closer and staring down at the blonde's lips. And Naomi could only agree that yes, she had, and Emily hadn't given her up to the others, and Naomi knew that she wouldn't. Not now. Not if Naomi played along in the end.

And then Emily closed the gap at last and kissed her, or Naomi kissed Emily - it wasn't clear - they both just crashed their lips together desperately and Naomi felt herself tangling her long fingers in indescribably soft red hair, and felt wetness on her cheeks as their tongues battled and they tasted each other for what felt like the last time. The last time in some shitty and dark parking garage, before finally destroying each other, while Cook hooted at them in the background. The blonde didn't know who was crying. It might have been everyone present, or just her. So, pulling themselves away from each other just then with one last slip of their fingers past each other as they dropped their hands and walked over to the other two, they knew they were doomed. And knew what they had to do.

Emily had danced over lasers, and Emily and Naomi had climbed the elevator shaft on ropes, knowing Cook would be waiting on the roof and Effy was just.. there. Somewhere. Naomi's world became ropes and clamps and concentration and watching Emily slide into a vent and then opening the door on the other side, and they found themselves in a dark hallway outside the lone office on the top floor. And all Naomi had to do to set it all in motion was get through one more door, and the rest was up to Emily. She sighed and dropped to her knees in front of the electronic keypad in the darkness, Emily standing at her side, inches away. It didn't take, and never did, the blonde woman long to get inside. But then they had discovered Katie Fitch, waiting for them in the empty office, behind the desk, and it took Naomi and extra beat to adjust to the dim light, and realize someone was watching them. An extra moment she didn't have, as Emily had already slipped past her, just out of reach, and wrapped her hands around Katie's neck before Naomi could even understand what had happened to cause it all. _She wasn't supposed to be here!_ her brain screamed, as Katie was roughly shoved up against the wall behind the desk and started to moan. No, no, this couldn't be happening. It was all unraveling too fast.

Minutes that felt like hours later, as Naomi and Katie held each other tight and Emily focused on the only thing that ever really mattered to her, breaking it out, solving the puzzle, getting what she thought was hers, the blonde and the brunette saw the redhead succeed in breaking the safe open and they all heard the whispered, "got it," and they all knew what that meant. It was time to go. Naomi looked over at Katie, nodding silently, her eyes pleading at the elder twin to understand that she was safe at last, and then she turned to walk out the open office door on the heels of Emily Fitch. This was really it, at last.

On the roof, Naomi knew what was coming when they got to the roof, that everything would be ruined at last, and she would lose everything she ever loved in one necessary moment. What she didn't expect, what the blonde couldn't possibly plan for, was that Emily would see it all, feel the humming of the helicopters and crunch of the boots before they even got close, and run at her. Naomi couldn't possibly anticipate that Emily would lunge for her in that moment of danger, and push them both over the edge of the building, falling into the night air. Falling for what seemed like forever.


	14. Lullaby

_A/N- Hey, niceoneBlondie - Ink. I love Ink so hard. And I like yer girlfriend too, so this one is for you both, cause if I update, you have to update too (is overly demanding, I know.) And Blondie? Get the inhaler, cause the first part of this one is full fucking on. Enjoy. _

_And congrats LuvA, like many others have said already. It was quite a story. All of it._

_Lullaby - APC_

_Go back to sleep...  
Go back to sleep [whispered]_

Chapter 14 - Lullaby

Los Angeles, CA, January 15/16, this year. Late night and midnight.

Emily felt the wind whipping on her face and the tense terror of the woman in her arms as they fell together a hundred, two hundred, countless feet down the side of the building in the chilly California evening before suddenly stopping with a tight yank, and crashing with a thud into a window of tempered glass some 20 feet above the busy street below. It was amazing the two women weren't more damaged by the impact, hanging suspended just a bit too high above the sidewalk just then, but Emily knew she would have never let the blonde woman slip from her grasp, in any circumstances, but especially not now. The helicopters were already shaking the building with their thunderous blades far above, and the redhead stole a quick glance upwards at the vibrations, checking for.. what? she wasn't sure, because she knew Cook was there but couldn't possibly have been visible from her current position, swinging gently with Naomi clutched tightly against her and their legs threaded together as they tapped softly against the glass in the soft glow of the street lamps.

The image of Cook - her sweet and noble Cook, on his knees, hands behind his head, looking at her one last time as he gave a slight nod to Emily's wide brown eyes, just moments before on the roof, before a uniformed SWAT team member in black Kevlar and with unwarranted aggression had butted him in the back of his head with the blunt end of the officer's rifle - it burned through her. She had failed him. She had panicked and just reacted and had lunged for Naomi's thin body instead, grasping the blonde woman up in her arms as she picked up speed and hurled them over the edge, taking a quick second to snap the clamp on the thin wire threaded from her waist to a metal railing along the top edge of the building. It was all a blur, _Emily was a blur_, as she tried to save who she could from incredible danger, as she tried to keep the end from swooping up at them with alarming speed like the ground had done as they fell, seconds later. Emily knew, looking back into Naomi's frightened face, inches away from her own, as they hung suspended over the semi-dark street, that she had failed. She had what she wanted, tucked into a pocket above her heart, but she knew she failed where it really mattered. Her grip should have, but never did start to slip, even then, even as she died a little inside at the look Naomi was giving her right now, tears welling up in bright blue eyes and her lip quivering.

Emily sighed, closed her eyes, and pressed herself back against the cold, hard glass, finding a space for her toes on the narrow window frame as she shifted her weight and kept her arms around the blonde, now trying to unwrap her own legs from the redhead's. Naomi wouldn't look at her anymore, as the redhead slowly unthreaded her hands from their tight grip around the taller woman and grabbed her upper arms instead, steadying them both for a long beat, feeling the blonde woman's anxiety flowing freely through her dark shirt and into Emily's gripped fingers._ It burns_, Emily thought, even this small contact burned, and it had nothing to do with the height, or the fact that they were both trying to keep from falling suddenly over into the remaining distance to the ground. The redhead braced herself, leaned back as far as she could against the glass, and felt Naomi start to slide down her body, her long frame hanging loose above the busy street as Emily let her fall for a second and found the blonde woman's forearms with her strong hands and they were swinging, just then, above the sidewalk in some kind of heartbreaking circus act. Emily grunted at the effort, feeling Naomi's weight pulling her down, and let herself wonder for a brief moment if she should just let them both go tumbling down. That kind of pain would be far more bearable than the one that was waiting when they safely reached the ground, and had to face each other.

She finally let Naomi go, mentally calculating that the blonde was close enough to the ground at last, thanks to her height, that she wouldn't seriously hurt herself with the fall. It burned Emily's fingers again just then, that she didn't have Naomi's flesh in her hands anymore, and never would again - she was certain. She had failed. She had ruined it, she had ruined them all. The redhead knew Effy would simply disappear, but Emily wondered, as she followed Naomi down the remaining space to the street, her toes and fingers clinging to the building as she made her decent, if Effy would ever forgive her for getting Cook arrested. Well, but Cook hadn't helped himself, Emily reasoned, and was incredibly angry at all of them again as she reached the ground at last, landing with a soft grunt next to Naomi's shaking figure, and how could he? How could Cook care that much for her that he had given his own freedom for her?

Emily was agitated. She knew it, she knew Naomi knew it, as the redhead pulled them both away from the circling police vehicles, now collecting in random fashion around the building, cutting off the street with energy and chaos, as the blonde felt herself pulled by the redhead into a dark and adjacent alleyway. The smell of filth and steam and trashbags swirled around them, as Emily let go of Naomi's fingers and shoved her roughly against a brick wall. "What the fuck?" Emily growled, knowing the answer, but needing the other woman to say it, "why are my friends, no, why are my family going to jail? What did you do? How long did you plan this?!" the redhead was shouting now, and Naomi simply looked back at her with some mix of heartbreak and pity and.. something Emily couldn't unravel. It couldn't be love. This wasn't love.

"Naomi," Emily said calmly, "I have your badge. Not here, but I have it, and I could have you killed in a second. Do you want that?" her voice was barely above a whisper now, the helicopters and armed officers far enough away that they settled in to an almost eerie quiet once again. This time, Emily thought, this time, her patience would not allow the blonde woman to waver, or make any kind of excuses. This time, she could barely keep her nerves from acting on the singing adrenaline coursing through her veins and her desire to rip Naomi's heart out with her bare hands. "Fucking just tell me this was never real!" Emily was inches from the blonde's face, and pressing her firmly into the bricks behind her. Now Emily was angry, now she had finally lost control, "go on, lie to me. I want to see this," the venom in the redhead's voice was potent, now, her emotions wavering in and out of her emotional grip. That _fucking_ blonde girl. That girl who had taken everything and still wouldn't admit it to her face. "Say it," Emily demanded, pinning the blonde back into the damp wall behind her, "just fucking admit it.." Emily was getting dangerous now, perhaps more dangerous now than she ever had been before, and she could sense that Naomi knew it at last, and finally answered back, "I lied, Emily, I lied. I didn't have a choice.."

Was Naomi pleading? Was she really begging for the redhead to understand?

Emily could not be more furious, and gripped the other woman tightly, her hands clenching around the blonde's shoulders as she pulled her forward for a beat and then slammed her back into the musty wall, ignoring the groan that escaped from Naomi's lips. "You fucked everything up," she whispered harshly, ignoring the obvious pain from the taller woman that honestly pained her just as much as any physical trauma could, in that moment, but she ignored it. She ignored everything but her rage. "Fuck you," Emily whispered harshly, before capturing startled lips between her own teeth, and she bit down fiercely, needing to taste. Needing to taste someone else bleeding for once.

Emily pulled back, swiftly, and brought a clenched fist up to Naomi's startled face. She stopped, for a brief moment, letting their eyes lock, letting them drink each other in, before the redhead's other fist came down with an alarming force and speed and cracked soft blonde hair and blue eyes swiftly in the side of the head, leaving the other woman crumpled against the alley wall, and Emily disappeared into the cold dark night.

xxx (Blondie take a breath. Everyone else also take a breath just now. Hands out Soothers.)

Washington, DC, 26 April, this year. Early morning and noon. And random earlier times too.

Katie Fitch was woken up by the insistent adoration of her gray tabby cat once again, and shoved down her rumpled covers to scowl at the little creature, now innocently licking her paws on the far edge of the large bed. Her cat knew what she had done, waking the elder twin up again, and Katie was too softhearted to be annoyed with her for even more than a quick moment. Cats. Katie couldn't ever be angry for more than a few seconds at the little fuzzy beast that had originally saved her life.

A useless gray cat named Chanel, of all things, according to the shelter where she had picked out her critter earlier this year, needing something loving and warm and loyal after Emily. She didn't bother to rename her, because the cat had settled into her life like she was a missing puzzle piece, in the end, always there at the doorstep or jumping into bed with her when she needed it most. On this day, on this random spring day, Katie was in the process of putting the final touches on a picnic in the living room of her small and cozy house with her best friend Naomi, the ruined FBI agent, but her dearest and only friend. "You're useless.. you can't cook!" Katie had scolded, just minutes ago, adding a dramatic, "get out of my kitchen!" as she humorously tapped the fleeing blonde woman on the behind with a pointed shoe. None of it was in anger, Katie just hated having her space invaded, and wondered to herself if that had anything to do with Emily, in the end. She thought it might.

After the murder of their mother and father, and before the theft, Emily had run away at the age of 15, disappearing in body even if she was already gone in her mind, leaving Katie all alone, facing the world by herself as she had done after the killings. Emily, her twin, her closest ally, had run away to San Francisco, Katie now knew, opening a bottle of wine in her sunlit kitchen. She wondered who Emily had met there, if her twin had any friends. If anyone cared for her like Katie did, despite her sadness and disappointment at Emily's path in life since they had last been close. The brunette couldn't blame her sister, really, thought she had it much harder than was necessary, because Emily couldn't let it go, and Katie knew this only because Emily visited her sometimes.

Katie had only seen her redheaded twin three times since Emily had run away, and she never really knew why, just knew her sightings and interactions with her troubled other half were all in the past few years and all of them had taken place in Katie's kitchen. Emily would suddenly appear cross-legged on her kitchen counter and watch the elder twin, as she shuffled around in the middle of the night, making tea. Whenever the brunette finally noticed the invading presence, Emily was always smirking and stroking her cat, the little fuzzy betrayer. Each and every time, the visit had a purpose, Emily had a plan. Emily always wanted something, wanted information, but refused to reveal anything about herself. Just stared at Katie with hungry eyes and a troubled expression, before curling her lips up into a cruel smirk as she got what she wanted, in the end.

Katie always said as little as possible, but she wasn't sure what had slipped out in her sleepy daze and panic, and then Emily was always gone again, just as suddenly as she had appeared, leaving the brunette dazed and not certain that she hadn't dreamed the whole thing. It was only her cat, pawing at the window, missing Emily perhaps, that assured Katie that she hadn't actually hallucinated the whole damn thing. Each time, Katie for the life of her couldn't figure out how Emily had gotten inside her house and perched herself for a few stolen moments on her kitchen counter. The elder twin stepped up her security systems each time her sister visited, but it never seemed to matter. Emily was everywhere.


	15. Let's Have a War

_A/N- My eyes went wide when I saw again what song I had picked out earlier for this chapter. Oh, my. Hold on, everyone. Thundering drums and way more chaos. Turn it all up to full volume and ignore the neighbors - this is where everything really goes wrong._

_For Megalo, for the "inspiration."_

_Let's Have a War - APC_

_There's so many opposites,  
So many opposites,  
So many, there's so many, there's so many_

_Let's have a war,  
So you can go and die,  
Let's have a war,  
We could all use the money,  
Let's have a war,  
We need the space,  
Let's have a war,  
Clean out this place_

_It already started in the city,  
Suburbia will be just as easy_

Chapter 15 - Let's Have a War

(This is generally where I try to give locations/dates/times. I can't this time, there are just too many. I will do my best to be clear and not lose anyone (else) off a bridge)

Naomi was not only left battered in a dark alleyway by the vicious blow the redhead had delivered to the side of her skull, leaving her slumped against a rusty dumpster in the dark and cold, but the blonde was almost totally wrecked shortly thereafter by the fallout from the failed operation. And the fact that she knew, and felt panicked, that she had unleashed two very dangerous things on the world - the formula and one brokenhearted and reckless Emily Fitch.

The blonde blinked open her eyes, carefully, not knowing where she was, or what had happened, as the fuzzy whirl of black uniformed officers and the wailing of sirens invaded her bleeding head and ringing ears. They were surrounding the F & F building from all sides, and raced past the mouth of the alley with violent chaos of all forms. She groaned, her heart pounding straight out of her chest, as she slowly pushed herself up against the damp alley wall and touched a finger to her damaged bottom lip. The sharp sting at the contact of her finger, finding a trickle of blood, was nothing compared to the crushing despair she felt as the memory came flooding back to her, and she saw again in front of her face the look of pure hatred in Emily's eyes as she pulled her fist back and Naomi felt darkness.

And after that crushing hit, Naomi knew Emily had vanished, and left her bleeding. The redhead, as expected, disappeared from sight along with the formula, which was what the FBI would really roast her for, in the end. They didn't care about lost love, they cared about national security and counter-terrorism and what the wrong types of people could do with the information hastily scrawled on the folded paper sheet last seen tucked away in Emily's jacket pocket. Naomi, frankly, was surprised that she hadn't been arrested over the loss as the true extent of the problem slowly became clear to the FBI leadership.

Naomi was picked up off the dirty ground in the alleyway moments after she awoke, by Freddie, dressed in a button-down shirt and flack jacket, his brow furrowed in concern as she stumbled into his arms and let him squeeze her shaking body against the rough material covering his chest. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, and lead her, pliable for once in her daze, over to a waiting ambulance where he sat beside her, squeezing her shoulders with a strong arm as a paramedic wiped off her bleeding mouth and roughly cleaned away the dirt and blood from where her head had bounced off the edge of the rusty dumpster when Emily had sent her reeling. "I need you here, Naomi, I need you in this with me," Freddie had said to her softly, as Naomi's shaking only increased with the care and attention. He handed her a hot paper cup of coffee, their legs swinging in sync sitting in the back of the ambulance, and they went to work.

They had to find Emily or at the very least get back what she had taken - it couldn't be out there, and neither could she. The next two days, the next two terrible days were a blur, as they found nothing, and the blonde grew increasingly numb with it all. The first hint, the first break they had gotten, came from an anonymous source and was the first lead they had to Emily's whereabouts since Los Angeles, and dark alleyways, and it found them chasing Emily to Washington, to Seattle. Naomi didn't even know how, but a black motorcycle had slid out on an icy patch of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge after a long and heart-stopping chase through the busy downtown streets, finally over the suspension bridge, until the violent crash, and until they surrounded the redhead at last - pinning her against the railing with weapons drawn and helicopters circling.

And then, in that terrible moment, Naomi experienced the crushing feeling of losing her Emily, her own heart falling too, straight off the bridge and never to be recovered.

_Naomi's ears heard the sharp sound of weapons being cocked as her eyes took in the sight of tiny dots of red light from scopes suddenly trained on the woman in front of her, six, no seven, dancing for a moment and then holding steady right above her heart. The woman glanced down for a quick moment, her arms still raised above her head, and then pointedly back to the desperate gaze of Naomi Campbell._

_She winked then, taking an almost imperceptible half-step backwards, before in a flash she stepped up over the edge of the metal railing and fell back, her red hair swirling, almost fluttering in the wind, as she disappeared over the edge and vanished into the icy water swirling below._

Emily. And the formula. They were both gone.

Naomi felt hollow, as she returned from Seattle to face the heat at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, a few days later, her head and lip healing over, but the rest of her just felt numb. He heard Cook was in jail, the only one of them they had captured, in the end, and she knew he would never get out. She knew he had fallen on her sword for them all and her shame at doing what she had done - even though she knew she didn't have a choice - was felt especially for Cook the following months, locked away, unable to comfort his friends. Effy was just.. gone, Emily presumed dead, the formula missing. At least the blonde could know Cook was safe, but she didn't know that she could ever bear to visit him. Or if she would even be allowed.

More and more frequently, she found herself waking up drunk, or high, and not really knowing where she was as she scraped herself together most days only just enough to try to temper what little she could of what was not only a personal but also a professional disaster of epic proportions. She was screamed at, she was interrogated, and she was warned and stripped of her title and authority and duties. Thanks to Freddie's discretion, it had never come to light in the internal FBI investigation what had happened between her and Emily - that it had become real, and that they had betrayed each other as only lovers could - but it was bad enough to ruin Naomi anyway. Friends and colleagues she had thought she could trust with her life all turned on her one by one, and the blonde found herself facing months of fallout with only Freddie's careful but distant support. There was only so much he could do.

Mostly, Naomi found herself heartbroken and her emotions wavered between sadness and anger and why did she give a fuck? Emily had ruined it all. It was Emily's fault that her life had been incredible for just one moment, had swiftly gone to shit, and then became no life at all again.

And now, Emily wasn't anywhere at all.

_A/N - Bawl! Ok, deal for my favorite Swede the next chapter will be up tonight (I hope!), so no tears anyone. You're all gonna like it._


	16. Gravity

_A/N - This part was supposed to be several chapters later, at first planning, but KlaraValentine convinced me I'd done enough damage already. And this is all much sweeter with her encouragement, so enjoy. Oh, and this is also smut._

_Gravity - APC_

_I am surrendering to the gravity and the unknown  
Catch me heal me lift me back up to the sun  
I choose to live _

_Catch me heal me lift me back up to the sun  
Help me survive the bottom _

Chapter 16 - Gravity

Washington, DC, 1 June, this year. Early morning.

Naomi was restless again, it was early summer and the cool night breeze was blowing through her apartment window, carrying with it the ever-present scent of cherry blossoms as it rustled the pale blue curtains on her open bedroom window. The blonde tossed around in her dark red sheets, violently untangling her bare legs from the fabric with a grunt before pushing herself flat back and staring up at the ceiling. Fuck. She glanced over at the glowing digital clock on her bedside table, _3:45 AM and no sleep._ Again.

Normally, or just a few months ago, in fact, before her new life - before Katie Fitch had saved her - she would have reached for and consumed the entire vodka bottle stashed in the freezer to deal with her sleeplessness. But now, she glanced back up at the ceiling and mentally counted the hours until she was due to meet Katie for their daily run. _Three long hours, at least._ She sighed heavily, rubbing her long fingers over her tired eyes and threaded them back through her soft blonde hair, tugging at her loose curls and trying to make her brain stop racing. And then, just then, she felt dark eyes on her for the first time in nearly six months, wrapping her up with warmth, watching her from the foot of her bed. Naomi glanced up, knowing just who she would find staring back at her.

_Emily._

They both just looked, openly, drinking in the sight of the others' eyes in the stillness and the quiet of the early morning. "_Hello, stranger,_" Naomi whispered after a long moment, not surprised, funnily enough, to see the silhouetted figure at the end of her bed. No, it made perfect sense to her at that second, that Emily would be looking back at her at last, the dim light reflecting from the street lights below catching Emily's chocolate eyes and deep red hair and making her whole figure practically glow in the semi-darkness. A smile danced across Emily's cherry lips and a mischievous glint reflected in her dark eyes.

And suddenly, Naomi Campbell was overcome by the warm flesh and the hot breath and the ghost of Emily Fitch in her bed, hovering above her, pushing her back into the pillows with her strong and gentle hands. Emily wet her own lips, for a beat, before kissing her, searing her, invading her mouth and her senses and relaxing her own surprisingly strong body against the taller woman's long frame. Naomi breathed her in, deeply, before wrapping one arm around the smaller woman's waist and losing her other fingers in indescribably soft red hair, cascading around her face from above and consuming her with a swirl of color.

When Emily pulled back at last, rocking back on her knees and pulling her own tank top over her head, looking down at the blonde with open desire, Naomi started talking.

"Where have you been?" she whispered, as the redhead ignored her and reached down to pull off the rest of her own clothing, a smirk on her lips.

Then she was stripping the blonde of her own loose t-shirt and boxer shorts, and Naomi continued,

"What happened?" as Emily was pushing her back against the bed, placing an arm on each side of the blonde's head and leaning back down for another kiss, sliding their now naked bodies smoothly together.

"Why?" she whimpered at last, before Emily silenced her with a finger to her lips, before tangling their bodies together and kissing her, deeply. The redhead licked her warm tongue against the blonde's lips, quiet now, and they both let go into the sensation, the heat rising as their movements became more frantic, and they both found themselves incredibly wet and flushed. Suddenly, Naomi pulled away and grabbed her face stilling them both as she looked into deep chocolate eyes, biting her own lip,

"Say something," she smiled shyly. The redhead smiled back, eyes glinting with happiness,

"_I'm really here,_" Emily whispered at last with her low and throaty tenor and pushed two small fingers gently inside the blonde, sliding against the heat and wetness she found there with perfect ease.

"Oh," was all that escaped from Naomi's lips, as she tossed her head back and bucked her hips forward, reveling in the sensation of being slowly consumed by Emily Fitch in body, something she was once certain would never happen again. And the blonde pulled the smaller woman down on top of her then, wrapping her arm around her shoulders and sliding her other palm to surround a perfect breast, and she groaned at the sensation, knowing she was spurring Emily on. The redhead gave a low growl as Naomi's long fingers surrounded her taught nipple, and pushed her own fingers into the wet heat of the blonde's smooth core, curling her fingers up and sliding her thumb over the other woman's clit with a firm circle. Naomi was unraveled at that movement, and pulled Emily down into a sloppy kiss. They both moaned as waves of pleasure wracked the blonde's body, and Emily held on, pushing their sweaty foreheads together as she brought the other woman down slowly, catching their breath together, eyes openly wanting.

It wasn't long after, that Naomi felt Emily pull away, pull away and off the bed, and her heart stopped. No, not this time. The blonde reached out, swiftly, catching the redhead by the hand as she moved to disappear into the darkness.

"No," Naomi whispered, "no, I need you, Emily."

Bright blue eyes looked at Emily's back as she turned, looked back over her shoulder and saw the desire etched on the taller woman's face, and Emily smiled, and relaxed her grip. Naomi propped herself up in bed, crossing her legs and pulling the smaller woman into her lap, smiling as she felt Emily's strong legs wrap around her waist. Naomi did not hesitate for a second, didn't give the other woman a chance to reconsider, before she was licking and sucking on one perfect nipple, and then the other, as the redhead began to moan and tossed her head back. At that beautiful sight, Naomi buried her face in Emily's neck and slid her fingers between them, as she began slowly rocking them back and forth in a slow and steady rhythm.

Naomi was in heaven, her fingers surrounded in heat and the air filled with the soft ohs and ahs escaping from Emily's parted lips, as the blonde knew Emily let her feel her, explore her, remember her, remember Emily's taste and smell and touch and warmth. The blonde thought Emily let herself want someone too, just then, as she whispered into Naomi's lips, kissing her deeply as she started to feel her body tense around Naomi's gentle fingers, _I need you too._ And with one deep thrust and one more searing kiss, Naomi knew Emily's life changed completely. The redhead came with incredible intensity, holding tight to the blonde's strong body, hearing Naomi say her name, and _I love you_, and maybe at that moment Emily became real. Perhaps she was finally here. The blonde closed her eyes and breathed her in.

With one last tender, lingering kiss, Emily's warm body contracted, taking her embrace and her lips away and leaving the cool air swirling on Naomi's flushed skin. When she opened her eyes, after a long beat, the smile still playing on her bruised lips, Emily was gone again, leaving Naomi now propped up on her elbows and staring at her fluttering curtains in the darkness.

She glanced over just then, to the dark red sheets beside her to find the formula left on her pillow. And Naomi laughed, _that little sneak_.

Naomi wrapped herself in a sheet against the chill, and reached for the piece of paper, opened it up, really saw it for the first time. Her eyes saw it clearly in the soft pre-dawn light. In the middle, carefully sliced from the very center of the formula to create what could be an incredibly dangerous and unstable biological weapon, was a heart. The three key chemical symbols were missing, and Naomi knew, they would likely never be recovered. The world was much more stable, she realized, just then, with the formula rendered useless, the mystery solved.

And Emily was somewhere. Emily was out there again somewhere.


	17. The Fiddle and The Drum

_A/N- Some crafty readers may have noticed - but the album on my homepage for this story has been updated with some (a ton of) tasty clues for you all. I am working, as fast as my little brain can spin and as fast as my little fingers can type, to reveal all secrets at last. Herein, Cook since the bust - he doesn't seem to be having much fun. And thanks for reading, as always._

_The Fiddle and the Drum - APC_

_And so once again,  
My dear Johnny, my dear friend,  
And so once again you are fighting us all,  
And when I ask you why,  
You raise your sticks and cry, and I fall,  
Oh, my friend,  
How did you come?,  
To trade the fiddle for the drum_

_And so once again,  
Oh, America my friend,  
And so once again,  
You are fighting us all,  
And when we ask you why,  
You raise your sticks and cry and we fall,  
Oh, my friend,  
How did you come,  
To trade the fiddle for the drum_

Chapter 17 - The Fiddle and the Drum

Sing-Sing Correctional Facility, New York City, 25 May, this year. Late night.

James Cook felt the tears run down his cheeks at last and squeezed his eyes tightly, running a rough hand over his face, over his flushed neck, and hung his head between his knees as he sat alone in his tiny cell perched on the edge of his tiny cot. His feet were slipped into the standard-issue navy slippers and he stared at them for a long minute before sitting up again and rubbing his knees over the drab gray prison jumpsuit he had been wearing for the past four months or so, and the fabric felt unusually rough on his skin this time. This time, he wasn't angry or stoic or even sad as he sat again in the darkness. This time he was heartbroken, and let the tears fall again as he reached into his chest pocket for the one physical thing that was keeping him alive at all. He stared out into the black and ran his fingers around the coin. Johnny's coin, the one he had stolen back.

Cook thought about America, thought about how fucked up this whole thing had gotten, more fucked up than even when he had arrived here for the first time, more fucked up than when he had been seconds from death for the second time. No, when it was really fucked up at last was when he lost his family, his first real family, to Jamie Harris' deception and Emily's panic; when he saw them fly over the edge out of the corner of his eyes as he lay prone on the cold concrete roof, head bleeding and seeing stars. The last time he had seen red hair disappearing into the night. He missed her, he missed them both, no, all three of them, as he couldn't feel Emily anymore and feared for the worst. All they had wanted to do, he and Effy, was to give the redhead her life back and he feared he had failed them all.

He glanced down, his red eyes adjusting to the darkness, and looked again at the small metal disk twirling in his shaking fingers. FBI Counterterrorism Division, it said on one side, and "Protecting America," Cook scoffed at that as he flipped it over to reveal the stars and stripes and a raised silhouette of Iraq on the other side. He rubbed one finger lovingly over that side, over the image of the country that had changed him, had shaped him, had given him his first real friend and taught him about sacrifice. The country that had led him to San Francisco and to Effy and Emily in the end.

Cook had been nothing before the army, when he was another angry yob on the streets of Bristol, when he had gotten into trouble so many times it was only his extremely quick running ability that had kept him out of jail on a hundred different occasions. At the age of 19, drunk and panting and hiding in an alley as he was being chased by the police again, he had glanced across the busy street to the British Army recruiting facility, and he knew that was his answer. Or _an_ answer, anyway, he needed something to change. It was clear to the army, or his supervisors anyway, that he was completely dedicated to this work, to becoming the best, leaving all childish things aside and becoming the ultimate soldier, and he was rewarded. Or their sick idea of reward anyway, as three short years later he was a decorated Special Forces officer sweating in the 120 F degree heat and dust of the Iraqi desert with his unit.

He looked at the coin in cradled in his hands again, and remembered Johnny. Issued to personnel in 2003-2004 serving in Iraq, this was a special coin, a unique one, issued with error - the extra space in "Investiga tion," and they had mostly been recalled and destroyed. Cook knew, was happy his friend's superior officer had loved Johnny as much as Cook had, and that he had kept it in his office at the McAlester base in Oklahoma despite the forced recall. Cook was thankful then, for Johnny's friendship, for his cool head and big heart, always providing the 22 year old Cook the guidance and reassurance he needed in the midst of heat and dust and gunfire, that his American friend was brave until the end and had saved Cook's life even as his own was taken in a horrible roadside bomb blast.

Lt. John Brittany, American, tall and solid, was an ammunitions specialist from San Francisco, having joined the army straight out of high school out of a sense of patriotic duty after terrorists had taken down the Twin Towers in New York on 9/11 and had changed America for the worse. Johnny never wavered in his love for his country - that they would always do the right thing - and when he had been partnered with the British Army unit Cook was a part of, they became inseparable. Johnny taught Cook to love America too, despite many flaws, despite its action of preemptive war and questionable leadership; Johnny never wavered. Cook never wavered either, out of respect for his friend, that they were doing the right thing in the end. Until his friend had died, as their joint unit was deployed to take out what they had thought was a terror cell but turned out to be a simple farm, and Johnny had fallen on a bomb intended to stop the madness. It only made things worse.

Johnny had explained the meaning of challenge coins to Cook, explaining that they are a form of bragging rights for anyone who has "rubbed elbows" with the biggest army brass. This particular coin, Cook thought from his prison cell, Johnny would have liked. He would have liked the flaw and would have slapped it down on the bar and demanded a round of drinks from anyone who couldn't top his challenge. Cook would have gladly bought the bar for him, a thousand times over, but Johnny never got to hold this coin. It was awarded after his death, for his bravery; along with a whole host of medals Cook couldn't begin to understand. He assumed those had all been given to Johnny's family, to his mother and sisters, and Cook would never touch them. He would never get close to the Brittany family or remind them of their loss, because the loss nearly ripped Cook apart when he had only known his friend for a few short months. He couldn't even begin to imagine the grief of those who had gotten to know the handsome solider his whole life, had really loved him.

Cook was discharged, had survived his tour somehow after that terrible day, and couldn't think of anywhere to go but San Francisco, Johnny's hometown. Once there, Cook had found he didn't feel any better, he only felt worse and the aching in his chest increased by the day. His second week in California, he had drank an entire bottle of vodka, had gotten high, had taken some pills offered by a seedy man in a bar, and found himself standing on the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind was fierce and threatened to pull him off the edge, and then his life changed for the better, changed forever. Cook wiped his tears away for a final time and stood up, pacing his prison cell from end to end.

Effy had saved him, her dark brown hair flowing in the wind and bright green eyes instantly understanding as she had suddenly grabbed his arm that night, and tugged him down. He looked back at her, looked into his future, and had given her an easy smile that matched her knowing smirk and they both knew everything would be all right for the first time. His other arm, he noticed just an instant later, was pulled back by equally strong hands and his skin began to burn under her fingers as he whipped his head around and saw Emily for the first time. Bright red hair and haunted chocolate eyes pierced through him as she gave him a hesitant grin with perfect cherry lips. He knew just then his purpose, his reason for still existing was to put the light back in those dark eyes, to protect her forever at whatever personal cost. Emily. And now Cook feared he had failed Emily, but was determined to make it right, somehow.

The night they had met, just after they had pulled him off the bridge, the three of them sat side by side on the wharf, looking out over the San Francisco Bay and further out into the open ocean, the city lights twinkling all around them. Cook threaded his fingers in Effy's warm hand and wrapped a strong arm around Emily's shoulders on his other side. She had leaned her head against his body and relaxed, sighed, and closed her eyes. The redhead put her trust in Cook at just that moment and even sitting in prison, after all the chaos, he knew he couldn't fail her. His heart filled up again in the dark cell. This wasn't going to be the way things ended, and Emily had to be out there, somewhere.

Cook balled the coin in a tight fist and set his shoulders back as he stilled, determined. He knew Effy loved him, that she was out there and would wait for him, and now Johnny would always be with him. Cook knew he would always be brave from now on - brave for Effy, brave for Emily, and brave for them all.


	18. A Stranger

_A/N - Thanks again to Megalo, the one and only person insane/clever enough to know all the details of this story before they even get written down. I roped you into beta reading me, sorry, ha ha, but you do know the ending so we're cool? Herein, Effy gives us her insight once again, and the plot thickens. _

_A Stranger - APC_

_What am I to do with all this silence  
Shy away, shy away phantom  
Run away terrified child  
Won't you move away you fucking tornado  
I'm better off without you  
Tearing my will down _

Chapter 18 - A Stranger

New York City, 25 May, this year. Late night.

Effy Stonem closed her eyes and let the chaos of Times Square whirl around her. She loved it - she needed this - she needed the noise and bright colors and traffic to finally feel still inside. And then, only then, when she was quiet inside could she see the whole world laid bare, and knew she could almost feel Emily again. She stopped for a moment on the busy sidewalk and just danced, just wrapped herself into some silent music and swayed in time, her hands running over her body and her hips moving to some unknown beat. In the swirl and energy of the city she could feel like herself again, feel like she hadn't failed the people she loved so desperately.

She was dressed this warm New York evening in a leather jacket and some ripped fishnets. Before the mayor of New York had cleaned up this street by clearing all the prostitutes and drug addicts away, Effy supposed she could have been mistaken for one of them. She stopped her movements, stopped her dancing, and lit up a cigarette on the sidewalk. She ignored the looks of thinly veiled disgust from the passersby because who the fuck were they? _Nobody,_ Effy decided, the only ones that mattered were out there somewhere or they were already dead. Nobody else actually existed in Effy's mind as she watched blinking lights and honking taxicabs and lost people through the smoke.

The brunette took a deep drag from her cigarette, green eyes focusing on the tiny red flame at the end of the tightly wrapped paper and thought of Emily. She tossed the burning stick to the ground and stamped on it with a heavy boot. Emily couldn't be dead, just couldn't be, Effy reasoned, but she wasn't present anywhere either. Effy was intensely disturbed that she couldn't tell, couldn't see what had actually happened. She had always been able to see everything with the redhead before, but now it was different. Things had changed ever since Jamie Harris had invaded their world.

They were lost souls, the two of them - Emily and Effy - when they had come together for the first time. Before Cook, before _fucking_ Jamie, Emily was hers. Emily was nothing but a tiny crushed figure weeping quietly to herself in some dark alley on an unusually cold and rainy night in San Francisco some years ago. They were both fifteen, Effy remembered, they were both fifteen and they both had nothing more to lose in the world when they found each other. The brunette knew now - she perhaps even knew then - that Emily was a brighter light than she could ever hope to be on her best days. Even though Effy's world was shaped at that point by flame, by unquenchable fire, Emily burned more intensely in that moment of despair and weakness than anything the brunette had ever seen before or, if she was honest, since. The fifteen-year-old Effy had stopped her constant looking and wandering and aloofness and had just held the tiny redheaded girl as her shuddering cries spiked through the rain. Emily was a stranger then - nobody she should have cared about at all - but even the teenage Effy couldn't help herself from becoming involved, because this was Emily Fitch after all.

Effy stopped attracting notice as she tucked her head down and gripped the hard plastic carrier slung around her shoulder as she walked on. Her painting was tucked safely away in something any art student would use for their crappy sketches and disastrous attempts at painting, a narrow black plastic tube that held an invaluable artwork. Unbeknownst to any of the random and stupid people knocking into her or ignoring her on the street, she had the very definition of art and light in her hands.

The painting they had stolen from the Walker in Minneapolis, all those months ago, was truly something Effy could not live without. It was the portrait, a self-reflection, of the greatest artist of this generation, in Effy's opinion - a man who took painting light and skin and life to the furthest extreme. Effy just had to possess the one time this incredible man painted himself, saw himself in an incredibly unflattering and intense honesty. It was there, in that moment with her in Times Square, as the brunette tried to read the world around her once again, real truth strapped to her back in some cheap plastic tube. The artist painting himself - looking so very deeply - was something she could touch, something she could understand. Lucian Freud. He was still alive out there somewhere, but it didn't matter to Effy that the man himself still existed. She wanted the visual, the evidence. Her painting was it.

"It's all kinds of ugly," Jamie had said repeatedly, over those few weeks, but Effy knew, she knew to her bones that her painting was actually uncomfortably beautiful to them all despite the fact that the brunette never tolerated being any kind of uncomfortable otherwise. "The artist looking at himself" was Effy's ultimate look into the soul - a stare that couldn't be anything but truth, the ultimate truth - and she hated his insight even if she loved it at the same time. She thought of Cook just then, knowing where he was, locked away and missing them all, feeling like a failure for not saving them. But Effy knew he had protected them all in grand fashion as it had all fallen apart, had given up his body so that Emily could save her deceitful love and Effy could just slip away again. This was clear. She didn't blame Cook for getting caught - she loved him all the more just then - for being the solid rock in their little band of misfits. Effy knew he was suffering, knew that he was locked away without a channel to any of them, and she sent all her energy to him at that moment. She knew he felt it, even sitting alone in prison.

Effy had been broken, she had been burned, even long before she met Emily Fitch. Effy could never stay away from fire before she met the redhead, could never stop herself from flicking her lighter and staring into the flames - and that was what ruined her for the first time, cost her everything. The brunette clutched the plastic tube in the night air, and directed herself towards an empty lawn chair scattered in the pedestrian mall, just then, blocking out the sounds of New York City. She needed to see her painting again, and remember. She relaxed for a moment sunk down in the checked fabric seat, knowing nobody would bother her for a brief moment and popped open the top of the container, letting the rolled canvas slide silently into her waiting hands. She touched the paint, as she uncurled it again, and knew she, and all of them, would be fine in the end. She took a deep breath and stroked the painting, remembering.

The Stonem household, from the very beginning, was one of tension and anxiety. Effy knew her parents, trying as best they could, hated each other from the start and didn't even care to hide it after a time. They were rich - well, richer than most - and held all their fights within the walls of a large stone mansion on the edges of San Francisco with a sparkling view of the bay. Effy knew, she always knew, her parents only started fighting openly when Tony, her brother, started getting into trouble and stopped pretending to care about any of them. The brunette wasn't sure that he ever stopped caring about her, but perhaps he didn't have the energy or the inclination to convince anyone otherwise, not even her. Despite their special connection, the fourteen year old Effy knew Tony had gone bad and she wouldn't see him for days at a time - he had disappeared into drugs and anger and women regardless of her open adoration.

She missed him, missed her brother, sometimes, but knew it was her fault in the end that he was dead. That all of them were dead and that she had ended up as a runaway on the mean streets of San Francisco. It was all about fire in the end, a fire that Effy had not intentionally started but that had consumed them all nonetheless. She just wanted to see something pretty, something real, and so she had stopped staring into the flame of Tony's Zippo lighter and had set all of her earthly possessions alight in the back garden instead. At fourteen, Effy could not have known that her combination of lighter fluid and flame would go beyond the garden, beyond just her simple pile of meager books and clothes and reach the main house in a horrible instant. She couldn't have known that the main house would go up in a mini-explosion of wood and stone and smoke and trap them all inside. Effy ran in that instant, her face burning with the bright orange and red heat of absolute ruin, and never stopped until bright red hair and misery, soaking with rain and cold, had made her stop, some months later. She wrapped her long arms around Emily in that dark alley and never stopped. Emily was what mattered to them all, in the end.

When Effy found Cook, had dragged him away from some unfortunate destiny on a dark night some years later on the Golden Gate Bridge, everything had clicked. This was the person she was always missing, and it was a strange kind of easy after that. Emily was there too, and the three of them had developed an unspoken pact - to make them all whole, to get back what each of them had been missing. Effy knew that her prize and Cook's would be easy, but it was Emily's destiny that had doomed them all in the end. Effy took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Just then, just for a moment, she could feel Emily again, could feel that she wasn't gone. The brunette knew Emily could have survived the fall off the bridge in Seattle, knew she had done far more dangerous things a thousand times over, but was not convinced until just that moment that Emily didn't want to remain lost, remain hidden or gone or actually dead. For a second, sitting on that empty lawn chair in the middle of swirling New York City, Effy knew her friend was there, somewhere. And for the first time in months, she knew where, knew what she had to do to help make it right. Lucian Freud stared back up at her just then and she smirked and rolled the canvas back up. This was about more than things. This was about real love.

Effy stood up and started walking, overcome with an unreal love for Emily, who was waiting for her, somewhere. Cook and Effy had found each other, she knew, but Emily needed something more than both of them could give her. Emily needed to be real, and Effy was determined to make it happen.


	19. Thomas

_A/N - And where did Emily disappear to all that time while Naomi was moping about? Let's find out.. long or perhaps just complicated chapter, be warned._

Thomas - APC

Illuminate me,  
Illuminate me,  
Illuminate me,  
I'm just praying for you to show me  
Where I'm to begin

Hoping to  
Hoping to reconnect to you..

Chapter 19 - Thomas

San Francisco, CA, 28 May, this year. Night.

Forgiveness, and letting go. Two things Emily Fitch knew she was terrible at, so she never tried either thing before just this moment. Thomas was looking at her with an open expression on his face and his hands were steady, simply smoothing the denim fabric against his legs and staring back at her. For the first time since the bridge in Seattle, since she had vanished from everything and everyone she loved, she started to feel uncomfortable and began to squirm under his watchful gaze. "What?!" she finally muttered, getting up off the couch and pacing the room. "I mean no harm," Thomas countered, taking her in, watching her walk with determination across and back over the living space above Panda's shop, "I just sense that you want to say something." He left it at that, and Emily was suddenly furious again. Why did everyone think they knew her, what she was thinking? "I don't," she spat back, "I don't want to say anything ever again."

"That's fine," Thomas said in his calm and measured voice, "but perhaps you would like your letters?" Emily's head spun around at this news. Letters? What letters?

"I don't know what you mean," she finally croaked, after a long silence. She ran her fingers through her dark red hair and stopped her movement, "can.. can I have them?" She finally turned to face Thomas, his grin easy and wide. "Of course, Emily, of course you can," he reassured her, producing three dented envelopes from his jacket pocket. He didn't even need to say goodbye as he made his way down the stairs and the redhead was left staring down at the stack of paper in her hands.

She turned the first one over and looked at the postmark. Sing-Sing. New York. State Correctional facility. Jesus, something from Cook. She opened the envelope slowly, tearing a thin strip off the end and sliding the thin paper out into her hand. She unfolded the plain white sheet and saw Cook's familiar scrawl, just four words - _We love you, Emilio. _

The redhead felt a lump rising in her throat. Oh, god, Cook. She had to get him out. She, she had to do something. She blinked back tears and flipped over to the second letter. Postmark - New York City. Effy's delicate scrawl, her writing almost like calligraphy and the paper a heavy artist's quality paper stock. Two words on the paper, two perfectly composed words - _Fix it._

Fix it? Fucking Effy. Fucking Effy who screwed things up even worse than she had in her life was telling her to fix it. _How?_ Emily thought, how can any of this be fixed, it's so fucked up already. Better to run, better to keep running.

The last letter, the final letter made her scrunch her brow together. No postmark. Nothing on the envelope except the simple word "Emily" in a scratchy blue pen. She tore it open and unfolded the sheet of light blue paper. It smelled like her, god, the paper even smelled like her. The redhead closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply, before opening them again and reading. Her heart stopped at just the first line -  
_  
Washington, DC, March 31st_

Dear.. you-

Emily.. Ems.. I don't even know what to call you, cause we didn't actually know each other that well in the end. This is something my therapist had me write. No, that's not right - my officially sanctioned FBI grief counselor thought would be a good idea to put pen to paper. How the fuck do they know anything anyway? They think that I just have some residual issues that someone died in this operation, and that it all went to shit. Well that's not it, Em, that's not it at all.. cause.. fuck.. I don't give a shit about any of that. I don't even care why you stole what you did.. well I kinda do, considering I've been beaten over the head with it for months.. but.. jesus, Em, I just miss you. I miss your smile. I miss your smell. I miss the way you were always watching me, waiting for me to slip up, cause you knew I would. You knew. You always knew. And I'm.. I'm so sorry, Em, I didn't have a choice. They all thought you were going to sell the formula to some international terrorist group or something, but that wasn't it, was it? That was never it.. but I could never explain that to anyone else.

I fell in love with you, Emily, deeper every day we worked together, and I know there could have been nothing sweeter or more horrible for either of us. There it is. I could never admit that to your face or even to myself, in the end. I love you, Emily Fitch. I loved everything about you. I burned every time you touched me, every time you looked my way. Since that shit biker bar, remember that? Fuck. That was a time. We both screwed up then, didn't we? You knew, and I knew, and it was just a matter of time before we both ruined each other.

Ems, believe me when I say this was all real for me, at least. This was more real than anything I'd ever felt before and I know I will never feel that way again now that you're gone. Can you hear me, Ems? wherever you are. I know they say you're dead, that I'm crazy, that I need to accept all this crap and move on. Well, I can't. I never will. Ever. Maybe you would be happy to know Katie and I are becoming friends. She misses you too, Ems, like maybe even more than I do. Twin thing and all that. I don't think I'll ever get it, but Katie keeps going on something about her cat? You knew her cat? Anyway.. too long already and I know nobody will ever read this, but.. let me say one last time before this gets mailed in a drawer (hopefully a very securely locked drawer) that I have never needed or loved anyone so much, and my life is nothing without you. Hopefully somehow you can hear this, hopefully you know how much I still love you.

xx Naomi (aka Jamie Harris)

Emily stood for a long moment, the letter in her hand, and her mouth was hanging open for the first time in her life. Naomi, sweet noble Naomi, had said all those things to her because she thought she could never hear. This wasn't something written to a lover, this was written to a dead person, confessing everything with brutal honesty. Written to her, to Emily, because Naomi thought she was dead. _Fuck_. Where did this come from? Emily looked around the room, searching for answers. There weren't any in the empty space.

"The drawer wasn't locked," Effy said to her quietly, suddenly appearing behind the startled redhead with a mischievous glint in her eyes that Emily caught as she spun around and met knowing green eyes for the first time in months. "Fuck, Effy!" she muttered, "Jesus! You're the only one that can sneak up on me like that. I thought we agreed to stop doing that to each other.."

"We agreed to a lot of things, Em," the brunette responded calmly, "and you disappearing wasn't one of them. Not after everything we've done for you. Not after you know how much we all love you.. how much _she_ loves you."

"I.. I didn't know," Emily looked at the floor, sadly, "I didn't know she'd go through all that. I didn't know."

"You must have," Effy countered, not with anger, but with a twinge of sadness for these people she loved, "she can't live without you, Emily. You know that now, you've always known. You can't live without her either," the brunette held up a hand as Emily opened her mouth to speak, "I know you, Emily, I've known you for ages. And it didn't stop when we avenged your parents, it didn't stop after Foster. It stops now."

They were both quiet for a long moment, standing in the attic of Pandora's head shop in San Francisco, both of them remembering the night several years ago when Dr. John Foster had been put out of his misery at last. The one that started it all, that heartless bastard, the man that had killed Emily's parents with a bat when she was twelve as she hid under a desk and the whole world went wrong for the very first time. Dr. Foster, head of research at her father's company - a private defense contractor, charged with biomedical weapons development from their headquarters in South Carolina - had known that her father discovered something in his research. Foster had known that Rob Fitch had been horrified at the formula he had developed, late one night in the lab alone, and Foster had known that her father smuggled it out, not willing to let it fall into the wrong hands. Emily knew now that her father had given the folded paper, the formula, to Katie to hide it, knowing that sweet and clever Katie would protect the world - protect all of them - better than anyone else ever could, even at twelve. What her father didn't know, as he sent the twins off to sleep at the home of their family friends, JJ's parents, was that the young Emily would double back and try to figure out what was happening, hiding herself in the office and watching. The redhead knew now that her father, and her mother, had both known they were going to die that night.

Foster never found the formula, and years later, he faced the wrath of Emily Fitch, Effy Stonem, and James Cook. They weren't brutal, though they could have been, should have been. They didn't even actually kill him in the end. Well, Cook had given him a vicious beating, for sure, but Foster crawled away from the three of them, standing in his living room one dark night, _just staring_, reminding him of what he had done, and he cracked. He crawled away from the trio into the bedroom and had hung himself with a belt. Cook checked, after a long moment, and nodded to the other two. It was done. But Emily had found herself still broken, still empty. Even revenge hadn't made things right.

"I've been watching them," Effy finally said, snapping Emily out of her memories, "Jamie, well, _Naomi_ and Katie. I've been watching them love each other in a way that is really all about you. They both need you Emily," she stopped, staring intently into Emily's deep brown eyes, "so fix it. I know you can."

Thomas suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs again, Panda in tow. "You can, Emily, nothing would please me more than to see all my friends as happy as my lovely Pandora and I are," he said quietly. Panda bounced past him and practically strangled the redhead up in a whirl of color and blonde hair. She squeaked, grabbed Effy in for a group hug with her other hand, and the amused expression on Effy's face, still looking back at Emily's concerned frown, finally convinced her to make it right. Emily smiled at last, her cherry lips pulling up at the sides before she actually grinned fully and hugged them back. She could fix it. And she did.

Emily had slipped into Naomi's bedroom window early that morning several days later with a purpose, a plan. She would show Naomi how much she loved her, how much the blonde had changed her, had healed her, and unspoken promises that they would be together, in the end. What she ended up leaving, other than the formula, other than the one physical thing Naomi needed to make it all right, was a part of herself. And yet she left feeling more whole than she ever thought she could, the taste and smell and essence of Naomi surrounding her completely. She had one more stop to make before she went away again, one more clue she needed to leave that morning to make everything right. She needed to see Katie.

Katie was up again, like always, in the early morning light shuffling around in her kitchen, blinking her eyes open and making tea. This time she noticed Emily faster than usual, perhaps just because Chanel the cat was making an obscene amount of purring and trilling noises as she stood on Emily's shoulders and slammed her soft head into the side of the redhead's face, nuzzling her. Emily scratched her gray head with her delicate fingers and looked at Katie from her position on the kitchen counter. She smiled, wide and open and easy, and Katie looked alarmed for only a second before she smiled back. They didn't say a word to each other, but they knew, they both knew this was the beginning of something different. The tabby hopped off her shoulders as Emily moved, slowly and so that the elder twin wouldn't be alarmed, off the counter and stood in front of her twin for a long second before wrapping her arms around her sister and pulling her close. She felt Katie relax in her arms after a beat and hug her back. "Emzy sham," the redhead whispered into her sister's soft brown hair, before she was gone again.

Emily knew, as she pulled away and vanished again, that Katie would be smiling in her kitchen in just a moment when she opened her eyes, and saw what Emily had left her on the kitchen counter. A simple postcard with a picture of a pickaxe and no other words, a memory of a favorite childhood story, and something only her twin would understand. She knew she would leave Katie smiling, happy, as she stood in her kitchen in the soft golden light of the summer morning, knowing Emily wanted to be found this time.


	20. The Hollow

_A/N - And what did Naomi do after she was surprised by a certain redhead and a certain formula a few chapters back? Revealed below - a short one before the last. Thanks to all my little lovely people for the new music. You know who you are and you know how much I inappropriately love you (it's not just the beer talking, I swear)_

_The Hollow - APC_

_Cause it's time to bring the fire down  
Bridle all this indiscretion  
Long enough to edify  
And permanently fill this hollow_

_Screaming feed me here  
Fill me up again  
Temporarily pacifying_

Chapter 20 - The Hollow

Washington, DC, 1 June, this year. Afternoon, morning, and evening.

Naomi Campbell was exhausted and rubbed her fingers against her tired eyes and looked back at the panel of identical black suits staring back at her from the other side of the conference table. Like a clone army or something, they were, she thought. This wasn't the way things were supposed to be, not after Emily. _Fuck's sake_, she muttered under her breath, before squaring her shoulders and facing them again, "I'm not giving you the formula until I have guarantees of immunity for all of them," her voice was clear, final. She was tired of this - it had been hours already. Hours of the disgraced FBI agent trying to make things right, but she knew she wouldn't ever give up.

"How do we know this isn't some desperate attempt to salvage your once 'brilliant' career, Miss Campbell?" one of them had asked, had asked her again just then. Naomi tried to keep herself from growling back at the lot of them, calmed herself inside. She took a deep breath and said, "We've been over this before, just now, even. It's because I have what you want and you need to give me assurance that it is worth giving over to you in the end," she was getting angry now, "make it worth it to me in the fucking end, Bishop! I will walk away right now if you still don't believe me," she hissed. Naomi was beyond entertaining their theories now, now she was just incensed. Originally, she had intended for the formula to be on the table in front of her as she had this discussion with her superiors, but her earlier meeting with Katie had convinced her otherwise. The woman that had protected this scrap of paper her whole life had much more sway with Naomi than any of these powerful government men.

Naomi was overwhelmed with emotion as she had curled herself up in dark red sheets earlier that morning. Emily had been here, Emily was alive, Emily had left her the formula. Oh, Jesus. The blonde had squeezed her eyes tightly and had held the paper in her hand as she fell back into the cool fabric of her bed. Emily had been here, she wasn't dead, and then she had left again. And she was gone - she was gone again. It was that last thought that she couldn't handle even as she let the last few months sink into her bones. The redhead and her deep brown eyes had invaded her world once again and had filled her up completely before she disappeared into the early morning light. Yes, Naomi now had the formula, could make things right, but the ache in her chest she had almost once contained had ripped through her again when Emily left through her bedroom window. The feeling was even worse, now, that she had touched and smelled and tasted Emily in a way that she never had before.

Naomi bounced her heels and occupied herself as she ran in place later that morning, waiting for Katie outside their usual meeting spot at the base of the Lincoln Memorial. She had to tell Katie first - she had to tell Katie that Emily wasn't dead. She had to tell her that all their grief, all their sadness, had come to an end even if she didn't know how it would all sort out. She was so involved with her thoughts and her warm-up that she didn't even notice for a beat when the brunette appeared beside her, "I know," was all Katie needed to say, her voice a low whisper. They were both quiet that morning, as if speaking at full volume would somehow break the spell. The blonde looked down at the other woman with bright blue eyes and instinctually grabbed her up into what for Naomi was the most intimate hug she had ever given, letting her lean body relax for a moment in Katie's strong embrace. "Fucking hell," was all Naomi could mutter, and at that Katie pulled away, leaving her hands firmly planted on the blonde's shoulders.

Katie looked at her, really took her in for a long moment before she broke into a wide smile, "So tell me, Naomi Campbell, what are you going to do to fix it all?"

Naomi closed her eyes for a beat and then opened them to take in Katie's deep brown stare. This was serious, this was it. "She left me the formula," the blonde said after a long moment, "she trusted me to make it right, I don't know if I can.."

"Shut up, Naomi," Katie cut her off quickly, "just fucking fix it. Just go in there and tell them what you have. They won't believe you at first, but they will eventually. The people that Emily loves, those.. people, you have to save them. You have to, you just.. have.."

Naomi grabbed Katie up again just then, stroking her hair with one hand, pulling her close with the other. She clung to the brunette just then like she was lost at sea and Katie was the only land for miles. Katie was the only anchor she had, and they both knew it,

"I will, _fuck_, I will.. I promise," the blonde felt determination settle like a stone in her gut at just that moment; she was going to be the hero now, she had to be for all the people she loved. She loved Emily Fitch, she loved Effy Stonem and James Cook, and she loved Katie _Fucking_ Fitch - the strongest of them all - she loved Katie the most of any of the lost band of thieves in that moment. She breathed in deeply, god, even Katie smelled the same as Emily - and finally stood up straight, unwrapping her arms from the smaller woman just then. Katie was still staring at her, and it didn't unnerve her then, instead it gave her the incredible strength she needed to face her demons. "I have to go.." she said shyly, stroking Katie's cheek gently before turning and jogging back the way she came. The brunette smirked and rubbed her cheeks with her hands, staring at the blonde figure as she disappeared into the distance, and pivoted to make her way in the other direction. They would talk later. Now? She knew Naomi needed to work.

Naomi smirked down at the stack of official paperwork in her hands later that afternoon. Full pardons, immunity, for her three favorite thieves - even though there was massive evidence of wrongdoing from the undercover operation - the fact that the bastard son of anthrax and ricin in inhalable form would never be released on the world had forgiven all sins in the eyes of the United States government. But, but only after a long afternoon of debate and cajoling from Naomi Campbell, the once disgraced FBI Special Agent. Naomi resigned her position earlier that afternoon. Life would be different from now on. Emily had given her the tool and the will and she had fixed it, fixed it all, and had of course made her way to New York in the late afternoon. She was standing in the parking lot outside Sing-Sing, the desolate federal lockdown, and was happy. She was happy waiting for what she knew would come next.

The door opened and there he was. Cook. James Cook was a free man once again, and forever. Naomi smiled, she let the smile reach her eyes as he spun around in the open air and started walking. He moved past her, unnoticing it seemed, and started jogging down the empty road. He stopped, after a distance, and looked back at her with a wink as Effy appeared from behind a stone column and wrapped herself around him. Naomi stood, for a long moment, watching two people that desperately loved each other be reunited. Their embrace and frantic kisses made something stir inside her. This was all only ever about Emily for all of them, and she was going to get Emily back. Naomi turned away and started her car, a smile dancing on her lips.

Later that evening, she was at Katie's house again. Not that that was unusual, as Naomi normally spent the evening at Katie's house waiting for dinner and playing peek-a-boo with Chanel the cat. The gray tabby was having none of it tonight and wouldn't stop harassing her as she sat on the couch, her glass of wine untouched. There was too much to talk about for this to be even a remotely comfortable conversation. Katie knew, Katie knew Emily was back. Had the redhead visited her too?

"Stop thinking so hard, you loser," the brunette cut through the silence and made Naomi smile, in spite of herself, "drink your wine." Naomi complied and downed the whole glass in one long gulp. "I didn't mean it like that," Katie chuckled, finally settling beside her on the couch, "this is for you."

Katie handed her the postcard just then, a simple postcard with a picture and no words, and she looked back at her expectantly, "I think she meant this story our dad used to tell us. A story about twins." Naomi furrowed her brow and turned the piece of paper over in her long fingers, "I don't think I understand," the blonde finally admitted, looking down at her hands in confusion. The brunette just rolled her eyes.

"You need to get out more, babes. This is about the story of Goram and Vincent, and you'll know what that means when you read it, or think about it harder. Emily wants you to find her – I'm sure this message was always for you. Just.. just bring her back to me someday?" Katie sighed at that sad confession, but continued, "but for now, for tonight, just stay close."

Naomi smiled again at that. Smiled that Katie had asked something of her at last, and it made her feel an odd kind of full that she could make her friend feel better, and that Emily would be found soon, but only because now she wanted to be discovered at last. And all of it could wait until the morning, and right now was all about just holding Katie in her arms.

The blonde knew at that moment, with the elder twin wrapped in her embrace, that she didn't want to be other people for once, and she never would again. Naomi Campbell knew she wanted to be herself at last, and there was somewhere she had to be in the morning.


	21. Passive

_A/N - Here we are at last, kids! Congratulations to anyone that managed to hold on to the back of Emily Fitch's motorcycle long enough to make it this far. I will make this long and sweet and worth the wait, promise - I believe there was originally supposed to be a plot but I think they just spend the whole thing in bed. Why not? This one goes out to everyone, and thanks for reading as always._

_Passive - APC  
_

_Dead as dead can be, my doctor tells me  
But I just can't believe him, never the optimistic one_

_Go ahead and play dead  
I know that you can hear this  
Go ahead and play dead  
Why can't you turn and face me?_

Chapter 21 - Passive

Bristol, England, 3 June, this year. Late afternoon.

Naomi opened her eyes again and was consumed with red. There was red everywhere in her vision and smooth skin under her fingertips as she stroked tenderly down the sides of the naked body currently straddling her, the sheets falling away as Emily leaned down to kiss her. Again. The blonde's eyes fluttered shut even before soft cherry lips met her own for the thousandth time since yesterday and she breathed deeply, surrounding herself with everything Emily as a gentile kiss was brushed sweetly against her own slightly parted mouth. This was the only place on earth she really belonged.

The blonde felt Emily pull away again, but didn't go far this time, Naomi's hands holding her hips in place, firmly but with a soft squeeze from her long fingers as she felt dark eyes taking her in from above. Naomi smiled at the familiar feeling of being watched with such intensity, and opened her own bright blue eyes to meet Emily's chocolate brown ones, something close to adoration shining on her face as they looked at each other for a long moment, and the blonde felt something still inside her that she thought felt close to contentment. Or perhaps it was because as her eyes adjusted to the deep golden glow of the afternoon sunlight streaming in through pale white curtains of the large stone estate house, she knew she would never tire of opening her eyes and taking in deep red hair cascading down pale shoulders, perfect breasts, and the slight smirk that hadn't seemed to leave Emily's lips since they had found each other again on the suspension bridge in Bristol late yesterday evening.

Naomi let her fingers start wandering again, following the path of her finger tips with her eyes as held onto Emily's waist with one hand and drew a line down the redhead's neck, across the soft skin on the side of her breast, causing the other woman's eyes to close as she leaned her head back and let a slight moan escape her lips, down across the firm muscles of her stomach and paused, for a long second on the indescribably silken skin of Emily's inner thigh. The blonde traced small circles there, enjoying the way even that slight movement caused the redhead to drop her head forward and open her eyes, almost black now with lust, and stared down at her like Naomi Campbell was about to be devoured in body and soul. The taller woman matched her gaze, and sat up quickly, grabbing Emily around her bare back with both hands and flipping her over, pushing her back against the pillows and talking in the way that dark red hair fanned out across the paleness of the bed sheets, almost dripping against them like splashes of paint. Naomi knew she had never seen anything so beautiful as that red color, and the woman it belonged to.

The blonde had stood waiting on the Clifton Suspension Bridge late yesterday, the wind fluttering her blonde hair around her face as she looked out across the Avon Gorge and back at the city of Bristol, lights twinkling as early evening passed and late night approached. The sky was almost purple where it met the horizon in the distance, and the city was beautiful in this light, in the quiet. Suddenly, and the moment she had been waiting for since she caught the first flight from DC that morning, her eyes were filled with red - although darker now in the glow of the lights - it was an unmistakable shade, and it was Emily's unmistakable presence.

"Hello, stranger," the redhead whispered to her, slipping herself between Naomi's arms, the blonde's hands already resting on the cool railing of the bridge, and smiled up at her. The blonde just cocked an eyebrow and glanced down at the smaller woman in her embrace, and smirking back down at her. "You wanted me to find you somewhere in the entire world and that's the only clue you leave? Why can't you lot just leave a forwarding address like normal people?" Naomi's tone was teasing, but she knew she betrayed a slight hint of her exasperation in her voice. It had been a long few days, a long few months, really.

Emily simply leaned in and gave her a slight peck on the cheek before breathing in the blonde's ear, "You never really appreciate something until you have to work for it, Naomi," the redhead practically purred her name and it hit the other woman deep in her stomach, in her bones, and she pushed Emily back against the railing with her body and wrapped her arms around her neck, tangling her fingers in soft red hair before kissing her, desperately, her lips crushing against the redhead's eager ones as the smaller woman used the railing for leverage and kissed her back with equal fervor. Naomi pulled back after a long moment, breathless, and found Emily looking up at her with mischief in her eyes and her hands threaded on the inside of the blonde's long pea coat, cool fingers stroking the small of her back underneath her dress shirt. Naomi knew she was in trouble, again. And hopefully forever.

Naomi pulled her close and looked for a long moment out past Emily's shoulder and into the twinkling lights of the city as she looked out over Bristol, and up at the night sky. This was where it would begin, where life would really begin for the first time.

The next day, in the afternoon sunlight with Emily looking back up at her from the white pillows of the large mahogany bed where they had stumbled the previous evening, all frantic kisses and flying limbs, Naomi smiled down at the woman she loved._ Love of my life_, she thought, _the only thing that matters - that ever mattered._ Emily scrunched up her nose at the soppy grin the blonde was currently giving her, "What?" she muttered, smiling back, "why are you looking at me like that?" Naomi chuckled, leaning down to kiss her neck and threaded a strong thigh between the other woman's legs, causing her to moan softly at the contact. "You are so beautiful, Emily," she whispered into creamy skin and satiny hair, "I would follow you to the ends of the earth and back," the blonde knew she just made Emily squirm, and not just from the slow grind she was making with her hips pressed against the smaller woman's center.

The redhead barely suppressed a moan as she grabbed Naomi under the chin and lifted her head up gently to look into deep blue eyes, "And so how did you know where to find me? I thought I was being too cryptic for you."

Naomi chuckled, "A picture of a pickaxe, really? Good thing your sister is as sentimental as she is. And she's no better than you are! She made me read that story - the founding giants of Bristol, really? English folklore?" the blonde started moving her hands down Emily's sides again, causing her to shudder slightly, "and it's a good thing Cook said he never uses this house, I'd hate for him to walk in on this anytime soon.."

"On what?" Emily squeaked, becoming increasingly undone as Naomi's hands were back to stroking her inner thigh. "This," Naomi dipped her head down and kissed the naked skin above the redhead's heart before shifting slightly down and beginning to lick slow circles around one of the smaller woman's perfect nipples, capturing it with her lips and sucking gently. "Oh, that, OH!" she growled as Naomi moved to capture her other breast with her hot mouth and then left a trail of kisses down her ribs, across her stomach and blew a gentle puff of air across Emily's belly button, "Jesus, Naomi!" the redhead's husky voice was several octaves deeper than normal now, and the wetness pooling at her center was increasing every second. Naomi could tell, could feel the smaller woman's growing desperation as she settled between her legs and was overcome by the rich smell of her arousal. She wanted to make this last.

The taste of Emily, somehow familiar but an entirely new experience all the same, was utterly intoxicating and she moaned into the smaller woman's wet heat as she ran her tongue in several long strokes up and down before settling into slow and steady circles around her clit, as Emily thrashed for a moment before tangling her fingers in the blonde's hair and groaning deeply herself. The taller woman continued to run her fingers along the soft skin of the redhead's inner thighs, causing Emily to puff out her perfect cheeks and part her lips with the slow and delicious torture, and Naomi grinned, humming once against her and then quickly moved back up the other woman's body as she pushed inside her and kissed her lips deeply, the warmth and slickness playing on both their lips as Naomi's tongue invaded the redhead's mouth and her fingers stroked quickly in and out of her.

She was driving Emily insane, she knew, she was delighted at the fact, and looked down at the woman below her as she took all of the taller woman in, before crashing over the edge with a desperate cry, her fingers clawing at the sweaty skin of the blonde's naked back and looking deeply into her eyes. "I love you, Naomi, I love you," she whispered before closing her eyes again and falling back against the pillow, exhausted. The smile that spread across Naomi's face as she continued to hold Emily, bring her down softly, was due to more than the incredible taste and feel and smell of Emily that surrounded her just then. She smiled, knew she would probably never stop, because Emily was real, Emily was here, and Emily was hers.

Later, Naomi propped herself up in bed, half covered by a sheet, and looked over at Emily's sleeping face, her breathing even and her expression peaceful. "I can feel you watching me, you know," the redhead whispered into the darkness, keeping her eyes closed even as a small smile danced across her lips. "I know," Naomi whispered back, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to ever stop." Emily giggled at that, and opened her eyes, turning to face the other woman, reaching a small hand out to tuck an errant blonde curl behind her ear. It was a moment of tenderness that would have once surprised them both. Not anymore.

"So, now that you're free, now that we fixed it, tell me something?" Naomi asked her, quietly, and Emily nodded, "where were you, after Seattle?" The redhead reached out to touch her face, stroking her cheek and looking intently into blue eyes. She nodded, "here mostly, and Berlin for a time. Then San Francisco. I have friends there, good friends, and that's where I saw Effy again. She gave me your letter."

"What letter?" The blonde scrunched her brow in confusion, and then her eyes went wide after a beat, "_oh._ That letter," Naomi started to blush, but Emily ran a finger over her lips again and shifted over to give her a quick peck on the mouth, smiling, "It was beautiful, Naomi, it really was. It made me want to come back, to find you again."

"Why did you do it at all? Why didn't you ask Katie to destroy the formula, before all this happened?"

"I stole it to keep it safe, where it couldn't hurt anyone else - since it took so much from us already. And Katie and I don't talk much, if you hadn't figured that out by now. I mean, if I could get at it then I know someone else equally as determined could have as well," Emily pushed the blonde back down on the bed, rolling her small body to cover Naomi's lean frame again as she regarded her seriously, "I realized the safest place was with you, and you changed me. I think, I think you make me want to be a better person."

The blonde smiled up at her and cupped the redhead's cheek in her hand, softly touching her face and looking at her with adoration in her sparkling blue eyes, "Me too." Emily said one last thing, before kissing her deeply again, "It's different now. I.. I want my life back, Naoms, I want my life for the first time and I want it with you." Naomi smiled into that kiss, threading her hand behind the redhead's neck and gently pulling her down, a kiss full of hope and promises and stories to be written now that they had found each other, and had finally found themselves. Life was going to be nothing but an adventure.

The End

_A/N - That's it, everyone! Thanks for taking a crazy ride with me. Oh, what's that you say? That's not it? More? Everyone go run to fall to their knees in front of master reviewer 6seatertable for her offhand comment that inspired the upcoming Epilogues (coming this weekend, I hope) and the sequel, the European adventures, which should be coming sometime this summer. Lots more fun to be had with this wild bunch, and lots more Vanishing to come._


	22. Epilogue Heaven Sinner

_A/N - It seems that the smut stakes have been raised - with the most excellent recent chapter of Checked In/Checked Out and of course, the entire body of the ever-amazing A Force I Can't Contain (sex tornado!) - lots of lust in fandom these days. So ladies, this is my response to your sex monster challenge, and everyone, just everyone, shield your eyes. Herein, I pay a small tribute to The Stalking of Emily Fitch, one of my first favorite and sadly forever incomplete stories, and hence our favorite redhead taps into her inner dominatrix, so enjoy. This is just filth._

_Heaven Sinner - Nikka Costa_

_Heart stop, lollipop  
Suck you up, never stop  
Make my tickle itch  
I'll be your little bitch_

_Nasty little red-head  
Crawlin' into your bed  
Feather breath, honey dust  
Just can't get enough_

_I don't give a damn, send me down  
Too many guilty saints in this town  
Come and be my vision of divine intervention  
Make it dirty, my God will forgive me, yeah_

_Your heaven made a sinner of me  
(Baby, baby, baby)  
_  
Epilogue - Emily (Heaven Sinner)

Random hotel room, USA, 24 July, this year. Afternoon.

"Em.. Em.. Em.. .. EMILY!" at that, deep brown eyes finally looked back at Naomi, and Naomi took her chance, "are the restraints really necessary?" Emily just smirked back at her, and raised an eyebrow at the prone figure of the naked blonde, and at that, she knew that the blonde knew she had her answer. Yes, it was completely necessary for her to be tied with silk scarves by both wrists to the hotel headboard, and completely necessary for Emily to be kneeling, fully clothed, between her open legs. The redhead held her dark blue stare and noted her open mouth as she trailed a delicate hand across her shirt, over her breasts and moved it down her flat stomach to pop open the top button of her leather motorcycle pants. She heard Naomi gulp and grinned wider, and unsnapped a second button. Emily knew she was going to enjoy this way too much.

The blonde started to struggle at the sight, gripping Emily's leather-clad thighs with her own bare ones, and pulling futilely at the fabric pinning her wrists because Emily knew she was desperate to touch her, but that wasn't the game they were playing. "Naomi," she growled, her voice deeper than usual, "stop it. Just enjoy this." She smirked again that Naomi complied, instantly. Well, it wasn't really like she had a choice, in the end - Emily was in charge here, and she wasn't going to let the blonde forget it for a second. She granted the other woman a brief moment of relief as she smiled dazzlingly back at her, not playing with her for just a second in response to Naomi's compliance, and unsnapped a third button, finally dipping her hand lower as Naomi's eyes grew ever wider. Emily bit her lip to surpress a small moan as her quick fingers trailed lower and found her clit, stroking herself softly as she started moving her hips gently at the contact. Deep blue eyes never stopped watching.

Emily knew she was a freak, and knew that Naomi knew she was a freak, but also knew the blonde had no idea what was coming as she slipped away from the sleeping redhead in her apartment that morning, dressed in a sharp navy suit for a final meeting with the FBI brass. Emily knew Naomi had been preoccupied and hadn't seen the filthy look the smaller woman shot her as she gently closed the bedroom door, content to let her lover keep sleeping in deep red sheets. Emily wasn't sleeping anymore after that sight of Naomi in her semi-official law enforcement uniform, and spent a long morning eating toast and examining things in the blonde's apartment, _their apartment_, before she dressed herself in riding gear and grabbed her helmet. Three hours was plenty of time for Naomi to turn in her badge and sort out the paperwork, and she started her motorcycle with a kick and reveled in the feel of the hum between her legs as she made her way carefully to FBI headquarters.

Never one for subtlety anymore, the redhead left the bike idling on the sidewalk in front of the dank gray building until she saw a startled Naomi walk out the front door and spot her some fifteen long minutes later. Emily had simply jerked her head towards the back end of the bike and the blonde had of course gotten on right behind her, pulling the waiting helmet on obediently over her long blonde curls and wrapping her hands around Emily's waist. She knew Naomi didn't know where they were going, where they would end up, as she drove at reasonable speeds through the traffic in DC and then increased her tempo dramatically as they had hit the open road, and headed south. The redhead had it all worked out, had a key already in her hand, and had shoved the blonde roughly into bed as soon as they made their way into the hotel room. Naomi's suit was left crumpled on the floor in seconds, and she was strapped to the bed with determined hands just moments later.

The heat between Emily's legs was increasing at her own touch and she broke Naomi's gaze and leaned her head back at the pleasurable feeling building between her legs, rubbing her other hand through her loose maroon hair and down the side of her neck, before she dipped down and pulled her shirt roughly up, her groan escaping at last as she cupped her own naked breast and squeezed her nipple tightly. She heard the blonde lick her lips from across the bed and opened her eyes again, looking back at Naomi's wanting face, then down her panting chest before finally settling on the glistening wetness left exposed between the taller woman's pale thighs. Emily licked her own bright red lips at that gorgeous sight and pulled both her hands away as she shrugged the leather jacket off her shoulders and swiftly pulled off her top. She stared back at the blonde with a look of utter dark lust and she could hear Naomi whimper softly, obviously unsure of what would happen next.

This was the skin Emily was most familiar in. This was the thief, the outlaw, the dangerous and twisted little person she had been most of her life. Only now, she was channeling all that pent up energy in a way that wasn't illegal - well, wasn't illegal in most states - just a few. Emily reveled in Naomi's anticipation, let her squirm for another beat before she growled with approval at the blonde's quiet acceptance and moved to take what she wanted. She wanted Naomi, and only Naomi becoming undone under her fingers as she slid one hand between the other woman's legs, stroking her wet heat for a blissful moment before she spread her own legs further apart and spread the blonde's legs even more. Emily moaned again as she slid two fingers inside Naomi, _god! she was so tight and hot and wet,_ and brought her other hand back down to her own aching center, moving faster now, a light sweat starting to coat both their naked bodies. She fucked the blonde slowly even as she pressed against herself ever faster, and felt herself start to slip over the edge just as the taller woman's muscles began to clench around her steady fingers, and they both crashed over the edge with a series of softly muttered curses and one startlingly loud _Jesus!_ from Naomi.

Emily pulled her fingers out, gently, and looked back at the blonde again with the taste of Naomi filling up her mouth as she licked her hand clean, sucking gently. To her great credit, the other woman was still staring back at her and Emily thought it was time for just a touch of mercy, since Naomi had behaved so well, had followed all of her unspoken rules to the letter. It was nice fucking a former bureaucrat sometimes - things got done the way they were supposed to. Emily stood up straight and slid out of her leather pants and knickers, before crawling slowly up the blonde's trembling body and giving her a deep kiss, tongues swirling, before she leaned up to untie one hand from her firm but gentle knot. Emily groaned as she felt Naomi's hot mouth suddenly sucking on one of her nipples, the blonde no longer playing by the rules but Emily no longer caring, because the pleasure was so intense as the other woman ran her tongue over any bit of flushed skin she could reach.

The second Naomi's hand was free, Emily knew she was going to get the fuck of her life, with her previous torture coming back to her in spades as she paused for another moment and untied the blonde's other hand as well. In an instant, Naomi had flipped her over, pressing her roughly flat on the bed, and attacking her lips with incredible desperation. The redhead would have smirked into the kiss but she didn't have a chance as the other woman firmly parted her lips with her tongue and invaded her mouth, pressing her hips down with an ungraceful force and grinding them together quickly. "Fuck's sake, Emily," Naomi managed to mutter, between kisses, before the redhead felt herself filled up by the blonde's long fingers, pushing into her, pushing in and out with incredible speed and no hint of softness, and Emily groaned just then, closing her eyes. She loved the edge, she loved living on it and diving over it and Naomi was taking her there, as she always did, with an alarming ease and intensity. Emily clawed her fingers down the other woman's bare back, not at all gently, as she felt the blonde push into her one final time and stay there, curling her fingers up inside her and causing the redhead to become undone all over again. It was Emily's turn to utter _Jesus!_ this time as she came, crashing down around Naomi's steady fingers and worrying, for just a second, that she would break the other woman or herself, with the force. They both slowed their movements, panting, and the blonde pressed her forehead down against Emily's, her eyes closed and her breathing still ragged.

They broke apart after a long moment and another desperate kiss, wisely giving their racing hearts a chance to catch up to their bodies for once. Naomi sighed contentedly and Emily chuckled. "Always an adventure, huh?" the redhead whispered into the waning afternoon sun. "Always," Naomi concurred, turning to face the other woman and running her fingers over Emily's pale skin, now bathed in golden light, "I love you," she stated quietly, turning Emily's face up by a gentle push up under her chin. "I know," the redhead responded, then paused scrunching her eyebrows together, "I want to meet your mother, I think." And at that, Naomi shut her eyes tightly and just laughed, laughed for a long minute at the inappropriateness of it all.


	23. Epilogue River Valley

_A/N - Dispatches from the battlefield:_

_May the 18th in the Year of our Lord 1869, Gettysburg, Virginia. Evening._

_Hard times have come upon us once again, and the once green clover fields of Virginia are soaked with the blood of our fallen readership. Light bondage was just too much for some, and I fear I may have lost my friend and closest ally in this battle to a wicked combination of boxed wine and inappropriate thoughts. Sadly, none of those bad thoughts ever made it to paper and KV of the Visitor forces is passed out in the bushes somewhere over yonder. I close my eyes and breathe in the quiet, determined to fight on. The Vanishing troops crowded behind me are getting restless, and have recently taken to chewing ditch weed like the tobacco none of us have tasted for many of these long months at war. A war that is too quiet, now, since our main challenger HyperFitched startled everyone three evenings past with a cannon shot of a chapter that was so not smut it was incredibly smutty, and I shake my head at the genius of it all. Life-changing kisses indeed. So, stilling myself to answer in some equally twisted way, I leave you this, dear readership, and Oh! my battered heart soars once again in the chilly afternoon as noble KV stirs across the field, standing up and giving me a filthy wink as she dusts herself off and shoulders her rifle. The booming crack from her latest chapter reverberates across the silence and birds flutter straight up from the surrounding trees with alarming cries as I mutter, "that girl is fucking obscene," but, only to myself. I know this is going to be fun, now, if war ever can be anything but heartbreaking for the desolate women and children left behind. But still, my most sincere apologies that what would have been a nice romantic walk in the woods to the tune of an obscure Canadian political folk band must - as in every battle, the corruption of otherwise gentle souls - now become a simple "fuckathon." I give you sex in the woods, without a blanket, and nobody but some mentally disturbed forest creatures watching. This is nothing but a masterpiece of fuckery._

_Best regards and hide the children,  
General Circle Campbell of the 142nd Vanishing Infantry, Smut Cavalry_

_xx_

_River Valley - Moxy Fruvous_

_Who will save the river valley? That's my drinking water  
This was once a sacred place, now look at what we've got here_

_Are you fine with your surroundings? Are they gonna crumble?  
I'm living in the river valley, come and join me for a tumble?  
high up above, see on the cars along the viaduct  
from sunrise to the last call - they push their luck  
but that would be fine  
if the world was yours and you were mine  
Who will save the river valley?  
Who will save the river valley?_

Epilogue - Naomi (River Valley)

Virginia countryside, 3 August, this year. Afternoon.

"Well, your mother is certainly an interesting character," Emily stopped walking down the sunlit path to scoop up a bright orange leaf and twirled it in her fingers, "I had no idea so many naked pictures of you existed. Have you ever heard of a pair of pants?" The redhead turned her head slightly to take in a severe rolling of Naomi's bright blue eyes, clearly more unimpressed with her mother than with Emily's teasing, "By the third photo album, Em, please just tell her to stop.. next time it happens. It _will_ keep happening if you don't say something." The redhead just chuckled at that, sauntering down the hard clay path for another moment before glancing another wicked look back at the blonde to find dark blue eyes glued not to her destination but to the smaller woman's ass once again. Emily took advantage and stilled her movements on the trail as Naomi kept walking, not even noticing the other woman hadn't continued to move forward until she had run right into her and they both stumbled back into a patch of golden prairie grass lining the trail, falling with a small crash in a cascade of arms and limbs as angry cicadas trilled in protest as their hideout was disturbed in the sweltering heat of the afternoon sun.

"Well, this is awkward," Emily teased as she slid her hands around the taller woman's back and trailed them down to deposit her delicate fingers in the pockets of Naomi's distressed jeans, giving a firm squeeze as she curled her fingers to get the taller woman's attention. The blonde's focus immediately snapped to the mischievous look currently spread across the redhead's face as she muttered, "Jesus, _again_?" The smaller woman simply smirked back up at her and shifted a hand to trail down Naomi's neck, between her breasts, fingering the soft yellow plaid fabric for a moment before she stopped playing and made a direct line for the top button of the other woman's jeans. Emily simply raised an eyebrow as Naomi closed her eyes in defeat and placed an arm on either side of the redhead's prone body as she continued to finger the button with her delicate fingers. The blonde shifted her hips up off her body for a moment, giving Emily just enough time to snap open the button and shove her hand roughly down the blonde's front, eliciting a necessary squeak. "I'm sorry, but someone says 'naked Naomi' and I just can't help myself," the redhead whispered hoarsely in her ear as her movements quickened and the blonde had to shift her hips up again so the smaller woman could thread her fingers down for more contact - they both needed more.

"Jesus, Ems, stop torturing me," Naomi pleaded, but only was teased for another brief moment before she groaned as the redhead positioned two fingers, coated in wetness, on either side of her clit and continued her rhythm, not being slow or gentle anymore but applying the necessary pressure that said Emily wanted her to come hard and fast and at her command. _Now,_ the redhead whispered, her voice soft even as her touch was rough and demanding and Naomi crashed over the edge at those words, fast and uneven and not with even the least bit of grace. Emily immediately withdrew her hand, relaxing back on the tall grass, as she slipped her fingers into her mouth and sucked for a long moment as the blonde shifted herself back on her knees, shaking her head as she buttoned her jeans and looked back at Emily's satisfied grin as Naomi rolled her eyes for a fourth time that afternoon, "This trip was so asking for trouble, I never should have agreed to this," she sputtered, mostly to herself. The redhead pulled her down again and kissed her nose with a quick peck, "I just.. I just couldn't help myself after that story about the bus stop!" she giggled. "Fuck you," Naomi countered, although a lopsided grin was creeping up to her eyes now as well, "hard enough to be waiting for the bus on the first day of school, harder still when your future classmates are all traumatized for life by the two nudists wearing only cassette players flanking you by the mailbox. I learned quickly.."

Emily thought this Virginia farm experience was all entirely too adorable for words, hence, she reasoned, justification for her recent actions, as the redhead pulled them both up off the soft grass to continue their journey now that she had her fun. "I thought that story was adorable, Naoms," she whispered, pulling the flustered blonde along behind her, rejoining their previous path after only a few unsteady steps, "how's about I just calm down and hold your hand from here on out?" Naomi simply raised an eyebrow, and Emily gave a small puff of her cheeks and tried again, "Ok, how about I let you lead me to this 'great spot' you've been telling me about for days?" The redhead's voice reached a pitch higher than normal as she found herself asking for something in the first time in decades, and she frowned at her own unexpected sappiness at the constant onslaught of baby pictures and awkward stories. _Disturbing._ Naomi, now quickening her pace, chanced a glance back at Emily only to see her walking thoughtfully behind her. The blonde let the surprise splash across her face, because Emily never walked anywhere - she always seemed to appear and disappear at will. _Virginia has a magic effect in all kinds of different ways_, the blonde thought with a smirk.

The two women, stumbling over each other on the path in what was certainly not clumsiness but an inability to stop touching each other out of a constant state of thinly veiled lust, made it at last to the opening of the clearing the blonde had been directing them towards all evening. "Here it is," Naomi said softly, turning to watch Emily look around with wide eyes at the crystal blue lake and small waterfall trickling in from the winding river. "Beautiful," the redhead whispered, turning her face back up at the blonde, "it's a lovely place, Naoms, it's a lovely place." The taller woman smiled back at her with a satisfied gleam in her eyes, "It's one of my favorites." Emily chuckled and crouched down to dip her fingers in the water's edge, before she bolted back upright and grabbed the amused blonde tight around the waist, burying her head in Naomi's shoulder as she wailed a little, "Fish! One of those fish just touched me!" The blonde squeezed her tightly and roared with laughter, "You'll dive off a building but you're scared of a little lake creature? You are a multi-layered and confusing individual, Emily Fitch."

"It's not my fault! Traumatic childhood experience, if you can believe it," and she chanced a peek up at the blonde, finding that she was holding her tightly but looking back at her with the most awkward scrunched smile on her face, and Emily snickered too. "So what kind of fish are those, Naoms? Lap flounder?" and she pulled away, kicking off her shoes and waiting for the blonde to catch up. Naomi did, after a long beat, "Trout, you filthy fucker! And since when did you read bad internet fanfiction?" Emily was laughing now turning away and jogging down the bank of the lake, tears nearly threatening to fall down her face and the blonde wasn't having any of it anymore. "I was going to tell you a charming story about my best childhood friend that died when he got cancer from the polluted lake water, but now I'm just going to make you suffer!" Naomi shouted after her. She crossed the space between them with record speed and grabbed both of Emily's arms behind her back with one quick motion and slammed her up against a nearby maple tree, eliciting an _oof_ from the redhead as her body hit the wood and the taller woman pressed her not at all gently against the tree. Naomi's voice was quietly threatening, "I asked you a question, Fitch." And Emily felt herself getting incredibly wet at her stern tone, "Bristol, babes, Bristol. I had a lot of time to burn," and the blonde nearly lost her mind with frustration at the unwelcome memory of nearly six months thinking the redhead was dead, and she decided at that moment that now it was her turn for payback.

She pressed her hips up against the redhead's firm ass and started to grind them, still leaving Emily pinned against the smooth bark of the large maple, "You're under arrest, Fitch, for bad behavior, being obscene, and a host of other actual crimes.." she purred into the redhead's ear, using her free hand to brace her against the tree above the smaller woman's head, and she smirked satisfyingly at the barely-audible whimper this elicited from the captive woman. Naomi was in charge now, and it washed over her with a sense of relief and a familiarity that she hadn't felt ever since she locked her gaze on deep chocolate eyes in that shit biker bar in Chicago. Raw power, the decorated officer and tricky FBI agent surged through her, the world's most dangerous criminal at her mercy at last. Oh, this was going to be fun, Naomi thought as she kept her grip on Emily's wrists and spun her around, pressing her roughly against the warm wood and smirking, again, as the redhead looked back up at her with anticipation and bit her bottom lip gently. The taller woman didn't waste any time licking her own lips and leaning in quickly to suck on the side of Emily's neck, just under the spot where the curve of her neck met her jaw line and Emily began to moan, not at all quietly.

At that throaty sound spurring her on, Naomi positioned her body to lean all her weight on the side of Emily's hip as she trailed her hand down over the side of Emily's face, her neck, down the strap of her tank top and palmed one perky tit roughly before she slid straight down to the waistband of Emily's black pants and snapped open the top button, her lips never stopping their assault on the redhead's neck, now sweaty and salty in the heat of the summer afternoon. The blonde unzipped her quickly and pulled the smaller woman's pants slightly down off her hips, glancing down for a moment to find that Emily had, by some fortunate coincidence, decided on a pair of knickers with white and black stripes today. _That little fucking criminal_, Naomi thought, as she shoved her long fingers down Emily's front and found her nearly saturated with wetness, her center practically radiating with heat that she knew wasn't just from the August sun. Two fingers slid down further, and then up, pushing into the redhead roughly and Naomi pulled her self away, slightly, to look Emily in the face as she groaned even louder at the contact and closed her eyes, her breathing increasingly frantic now as the blonde pumped in and out of her with a force she didn't know she contained.

Emily opened her eyes again after a long moment and licked her lips. Naomi felt that deep stare burn through her again and she upped the ante again, because she was in control this time, and pulled out for a second and added a third finger pushing back into the heat and causing Emily to break the look and slam her head back against the smooth bark of the tree. _Fuck_, the smaller woman muttered, and Naomi grinned and ran her tongue back up the now-exposed neck, thanking whatever deity was convenient for the easy access. And for Emily, as Naomi felt her start to quiver and contract at the increased pressure and tempo. Naomi wasn't about to let her go just yet and she stopped all her movements, suddenly, causing the redhead to snap her eyes, desperate now, to meet the taller woman's piercing blue stare. "How much do you want it, baby?" the blonde growled, and Emily came completely undone, struggling in Naomi's grip for a moment before sputtering, "Fuck me, please, make me come for you, Naoms," and she did, pumping back in and out with renewed energy and somehow finding the redhead's swollen clit with her thumb. Emily buckled and contracted at that gentle contact, finally coming with a rush of energy and Naomi's fingers curled up forcefully inside her. She couldn't even speak as she crashed down, just let out a loud moan that made Naomi chuckle as she brought her down, slowly, finally pulling away only when she knew the redhead could actually stand on her own. The taste of Emily on her lips as she licked her fingers until they gleamed, Naomi walked away down the path again, pausing for just a moment to let the frazzled redhead catch up.

"So, visit to the farm, what's the verdict?" the blonde smirked back at her as the redhead scowled up at her. "It was eventful," was all Emily could muster, brushing past her. "And where to next?" Naomi continued, grinning at Emily's retreating form, noting her clothes were still slightly askew. The smaller woman paused, finally finding her voice again as she looked at the blonde with that same wicked glint in her eyes that always lead to trouble, "I dunno, Naoms, going to make me go gay marry you in Iowa or something?" and walked away again, her hips swaying with satisfaction as she knew she had made the taller woman's mouth fall open stupidly once again. It took Naomi a long moment before she knew her legs would start working and finally started jogging after her, as she called out to Emily's retreating form, futilely trying to get in the last word,

"Only if Katie can perform the ceremony, Emily, cause I think she'd be in to that officiating thing." Emily didn't stop walking, but Naomi could hear her snickering down the path, the sun making her dark red hair gleam with an almost angelic glow. Naomi stopped in her tracks once again, "Also, WHAT?"

_A/N - Dispatch from the field, May the 19th, 1869. Morning. The war is over, and all our forces have been decimated, gentle reader. Those foolish enough to take up this fight had to know, somehow, in the end, we were inviting our own lovely demise when we awoke the sleeping giant that is HyperFitched, and with one flick of her orgasmic pen she blew us all away with her latest chapter. White flags and thunderous applause, Hypes. I bow to your greatness, again._


	24. Epilogue Please Sister

_A/N - This is finally the last bit, I promise, and now maybe a little sweetness to make up for all that smut. Sweetness like a sugar high, because I am one. This one is for IAmConcernedBitch, for hilarious lines (I'm serious about that throw pillow), your brilliant sense of humor/dirty mind, and your love of Katie Fucking Fitch and certain nameless blondes that most definitely rivals my own. And sisters! Such strange creatures.._

_Please Sister - The Cardigans_

_So if it's true, that love will never die  
Then why do the lovers work so hard  
To stay alive  
Please sister, help me  
Please give me something oh_

_Cause I'm gone, gone  
Is there nothing you can get  
Please sister help me I just need some love  
To live  
Just a little love to live_

Epilogue - Katie (Please Sister)

Washington, DC, 7 October, this year. Evening.

"You two are disgusting, you know that right?" Katie crinkled her nose at the sight in front of her, watching her twin and her best friend making googly eyes at each other from across the living room, and she was certain she even saw them rub noses when she thought they thought she wasn't looking. It was shocking to her really, as Katie took in amused grins from Emily - legs draped over the side of an armchair and bare feet dangling, and from Naomi, sitting in that same chair with a lap full of redhead - that the two of them could look so relaxed together. Or more startlingly, that either of them could sit still for a second, much less be making puppy dog eyes at each other. What had the world come to, she wondered. _What indeed?_

Naomi shifted Emily slightly in her lap, stretching her own long legs out in front of her and removed her arms from around the younger twin's waist to cross them back behind her head and smiled even more widely, "What's the matter, Katiekins? It's not like we shagged in the middle of the birthday dinner table or anything." Emily just chuckled as that quip earned a scoff from Katie as her eyes narrowed and she pointed a finger in their general direction, "You ever try that, you two, and you'll just end up covered in casserole.. a casserole made solely of tuna and _shame_." The blonde's mouth fell open for a beat, before she tossed her head back and roared with laughter, and Emily looked back at her before meeting Katie's concerned frown and started giggling herself. It only took one more beat before all three women were cackling and the echoes sounded throughout the little house, startling the sleeping gray tabby from her perch high on the windowsill behind Katie's shoulder. The cat stretched herself up, claws contracting on the painted wood, before she jumped down and sauntered over to the elder twin first, earning a scritch behind the ears as she took a seat on the couch beside the brunette. Both Chanel and Katie looked over at the happy couple expectantly.

"So, what's up with these matching rings you're sporting anyway.. didn't go run off and get married without me, did you?" Katie raised an eyebrow and tilted her head as Naomi smirked back at her and Emily just grunted at the question, "It was Em's idea, wasn't it, Emsy?" the blonde asked, caressing her soft red hair in a matching stroke to the one Katie was absentmindedly rubbing on a little gray head, earning contented sighs from both of them. "It was, Naoms, a little something we picked up in New Orleans, some little voodoo shop. I liked the skulls," the redhead tilted her head to the side and looked down at her left hand, silver ring gleaming back up at her in the soft lamp light. The brunette just rolled her eyes at the sappy look on her twin's face and then stole a glance over at the blonde, who was watching Emily look at her hand with rapt attention. _Hopeless, those two._ Naomi pulled her eyes away after a long moment and smiled back at Katie, earning a matching grin, "And no, Katie, we didn't go run off and get married without you, cause well, a certain _someone_ just got off the FBI's top ten most wanted list, so everything in time." This time it was Emily who rolled her eyes as the blonde giggled at her.

"How did you manage to get this one," Katie said, addressing Naomi but jerking her head in her twin's direction, "back in the country anyway, after your 'epic love story' reunification moment and sexfest in Bristol?" Emily started giggling and the blonde blushed slightly at Katie's forwardness, or perhaps just at the flashback of nearly a month in Cook's estate house in which they seemingly hadn't left the bedroom at all. She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat, before pulling Emily back into her tighter and recounting the hilarious tale of the redhead's first commercial flight, and the blonde made a point to pull all the confused and disgusted faces that the younger twin had given as a reaction to everything from the adjustable seat belt to the airsickness bag in the seat pocket in front of her. Naomi remembered wondering just how it was that Emily had ever traveled previously - since from Emily's reaction to the blonde stewardess leaning just a little too close and showing just a little too much cleavage for Naomi's liking as she handed them both a glass of champagne - the younger twin had never seen one of those beautiful creatures, either. Naomi had pulled Emily's wandering attention back to her at that moment, clinking the other woman's glass to hers with a wink and a smile, and Naomi had decided she really didn't want to know. Some mysteries were best left undisturbed, for the time being anyway.

The little gray tabby hopped down off the couch as the brunette paused the conversation for a moment to pop back into the kitchen for another bottle of wine, and when she returned to the living room, she found the cat nuzzling Emily's bare foot with her head and making trilling noises as she got the redhead to respond by wiggling her toes. Katie smiled fondly at the sight, that her little pet and her little twin had some kind of mutually beneficial love relationship, and well she knew her sister was at least part cat from all that disappearing she was always managing to do. Well, not that Katie had seen her twin since that night she left the postcard, that night Emily reappeared and held her for just a moment, and everything changed. She had seen Naomi, of course, these past few months whenever the blonde was in town and they would resume their morning runs through Arlington like nothing had changed. She knew Emily was there, was living with Naomi in their apartment when they weren't off on one of their frequent trips or shag sessions, but Emily never contacted or tried to see her in all that time. It made Katie slightly sad, slightly put off, but Naomi was always reassuring her that it was a lot for her twin to take in, this past year, and that Emily was coming around. It was only earlier that evening that Naomi had shown up for their joint birthday dinner, bottle of wine in hand, and after a quick hug and a _Happy Birthday_ whispered on the door stoop, she gave Katie the greatest present the elder twin could have ever asked for when the taller woman stepped to the side to reveal one very sheepish redhead in tow.

Holding a large chocolate cake out in front of her like some kind of distracting shield, Emily had swallowed and raised her deep brown eyes to meet Katie's matching ones, both of them full of apology and anticipation as they stared at each other for a long moment, unspoken volumes being communicated between them silently in the early evening glow of the overhead lamp. Naomi had looked around nervously, noting the wind rustling the trees and the fireflies still dancing in the darkness of the front yard even in the early October chill, before glancing back and forth between the twins with a look of pure joy and utter terror somehow both reflecting on her face and grabbed the cake as she headed inside. Katie had smirked at the blonde's hasty retreat, knowing she would be finding the already open bottle of wine on the kitchen counter and probably would be necking it straight from the bottle as soon as she set down the cake. Katie had taken a step forward closing the space between them, and Emily hadn't flinched - just keeping her eyes locked on the identical chocolate pair still staring her down - before the redhead's gaze was broken as a sharp sting spread across her cheek from a swift slap from her twin's open palm.

Emily had brought her eyes back up to her sister's frown with a wide grin of her own, before closing the space completely and pulling Katie close in a crushing hug. "I love you, Bitch," Emily muttered into the other woman's hair as she held her tight for a long moment, both of them feeling this kind of whole again for the first time in nearly 12 years. "Katie sham," the brunette whispered, sniffing back tears, and the redhead countered quickly with, "Emzy sham do," and they both managed to say _Happy Birthday_ to each other at exactly the same moment, before bursting out into a fit of giggles. Katie had pulled away first, but not before grabbing her twin's hand and they walked in the house together, to find out exactly how much mischief Naomi had managed to get into in the five minutes she had been in Katie's kitchen unsupervised. They both looked at the blonde standing over the stove, spoon in mouth and guilty look on her face, as she turned suddenly to find the twins staring back at her with identical knowing smirks. Naomi had grinned widely at the sight of their entwined fingers, and with her teeth still clenching the spoon she raised the bottle of wine at them in salute.

Katie's attention was brought back from earlier in the evening and the sight of her cat going mental against Emily's bare toes, to hear the last few whispered words of hushed conversation as Emily elbowed Naomi softly in the ribs and scowled slightly as the blonde woman kept giggling, "But Em, it's so adorable, why can't I tell that story? Don't think I don't know you spend just hours running your fingers over it when you think I'm not looking." Katie's eyes went wide, but was brave enough to ask anyway, not certain if she even wanted to know what they were talking about, "She spends hours doing what now?" Both the other woman looked up at her concerned face, and watched the brunette raise one eyebrow and shake her head slightly. "Oh, it seems Emily Fitch is just a little bit in love with her passport, and I can see why. Very _patriotic_," Naomi emphasized the last word suggestively and Emily just raised her hands up over her head in defeat, "Fine! I like all the pictures. Trip through America on the Visa pages! I like to travel, babes. _Obviously._" This time the redhead dropped her voice deeper on the final word and it was Naomi's turn to have her eyes go wide. Katie poured them all more wine as she tried to keep her own eyes from rolling up at the way those two couldn't stop teasing each other, even in the middle of her living room. She was worried her eyes would get stuck that way permanently if she spent too much more time around the two of them. She silently wondered when their next trip would be, so she didn't have to see it in person for a while, anyway.

Naomi pulled Emily close again and entwined their fingers together on the smaller woman's lap as she turned her attention back to the elder twin and recounted how Emily had been standing in the customs line at Regan National Airport in DC a few months back, looking nervous at the unfamiliar process and her empty hands as the line got ever shorter, until Naomi had reached into her bag. The blonde had pulled out two dark navy booklets with the official United States seal imprinted in gold, handing the startled younger twin one of them with a smile. _Yours_, she had whispered, and grinned like an idiot as Emily had opened the laminated front page to find her own face looking back at her, all her details filled in and everything official. She had stroked a finger over her own printed face before looking up at the facing page to find a gigantic bald eagle and American flag in bold color staring back at her. She giggled, then, and asked for a pen, "I have to sign it for it to be official, yeah?" Naomi nodded before the redhead continued, "good thing I decided against smuggling all those endangered parrots in my knickers this trip," and she had grabbed the pen from the blonde's fingers before her mouth hung open and she dropped it on the floor. Emily signed it with a flourish. Real now, at last.

"Aww, that's even more disgustingly sweet than the eskimo kisses you two were indulging in earlier," Kate had smirked at the conclusion of the story and leaned back on the couch with the tabby back in her lap as she laughed a little bit evilly at the shocked eyes from the other two women at being busted, "you two really aren't as crafty as you think, you know," and Emily just settled back into Naomi with a satisfied smile on her face as the blonde raised her glass of wine at Katie in defeat and salute. "Happy Birthday, to my two favorite people, my Fitch Twin hurricane, and here's to the future!" Katie grinned back at her and raised her own glass as she watched her best friend take a sip and hand the glass to her sister, as they shared a brief kiss and a smitten look between them. _To the future_, Katie thought, _it was going to be bright indeed._

_xx_

_A/N - So there we really have it everyone, at long last Vanishing is done and I am clicking that complete button and picking up my backpack on my way out the door to my very own life-changing European cross-continental crime spree. Thanks everyone, for taking this crazy ride with me. And what is this? Oh, this trip is definitely research for the sequel, and twin fun, and breathing in a little clean air for a while - I honestly cannot wait to see where it all takes me next. I'll see you all on the other side, lovely people, but I promise that it WILL be eventful and you will soon hear all about it. Life is nothing but an adventure, in the end._


End file.
